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HOUGHTON  MIFFLIM   CO. 


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AMERICAN  HERO 
STORIES 


BY 


EVA  MAECH  TAPPAN,  Ph.D. 

Formerly  of  the  English  Department,  English  High  School, 

Worcester,  Mass.  Author  of  "  England's  Story,"  "  Our 

Country's  Story,"   "  Old  Ballads  in  Prose." 

"In  the  Bays  of  Alfred  the  Great,"  etc. 


BOSTON    AND   NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
(STfje  fiitier?ide  $re?£  Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT    1906    BY    EVA   MARCH  TAPPAN 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


•    •■ 


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0 


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EDUCATION  DEF? 


PEEFACE 

THIS  volume  contains  five  accounts  of  voyagers  and  explorers, 
ranging  from  Columbus  to  Lewis  and  Clark ;  stories  of  five 
colonies  of  marked  dissimilarity  —  Virginia,  Quebec,  Plymouth, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia ;  brief  lives  of  four  pioneers  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteen th  centuries ;  and  fifteen  short  stories 
of  war  times.  In  treating  of  our  wars,  it  seemed  wisest  not  to 
attempt  any  formal  explanation  of  causes  and  results,  but  rather 
to  picture  a  number  of  separate  and  interesting  achievements, 
choosing  as  far  as  possible  actions  that  have  distinct  heroes.  The 
chapters  are  arranged  in  chronological  order,  with  a  thread  of 
continuity  running  through  them.  The  aim  of  the  book  is  to  in- 
troduce in  informal  and  friendly  fashion  some  of  the  makers  of 
American  history,  and  to  provide  a  simple,  broad  foundation  for 
future  study  of  history  and  biography. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  the  courtesy  of  the  following  for 
permission  to  use  their  material  for  illustrations :  to  The  Title 
Guarantee  and  Trust  Co.  of  New  York  for  New  Amsterdam  in 
Stuyvesanfs  Time  ;  to  Mr.  C.  M.  Barton,  President  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Michigan,  for  Gladwyn's  Warning  from  the  Indian  Girl; 
to  Mr.  Charles  E.  Goodspeed  for  Washington  at  the  Delaware  ;  to 
McClure's  Magazine  for  portrait  of  Daniel  Boone;  to  the  New 
England  Magazine  for  The  Indian  Woman  who  Guided  Lewis  and 
Clark  and  the  Seal  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Exposition  ;  to  The  Out- 
ing Magazine  for  The  Marriage  and  The  March  of  David  Crockett. 

Eva  March  Tappan. 
Worcester,  Massachusetts, 

January  1,  1906.  961667 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Columbus,  Who  First  Crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  .  1 
Ferdinand  Magellan,  Who  Found  the  Way  around  the 

World 14 

Francis  Drake,  Seaman  of  Queen  Elizabeth  .  .  .24 
John  Smith,  the  Father  of  Virginia       ....  38 

Samuel  de  Champlain,  the  Founder  of  Quebec  .  .49 
Miles  Standish,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Pilgrims  59 

Peter  Stuyvesant,  Last  Dutch  Governor  of  New  York  73 
King  Philip,  Chief  of  the  Wampanoags  ...  84 

The  Men  Who  Explored  the  Mississippi  .  .  .  .96 
William  Penn,  Who  Founded  Pennsylvania  .  .  .  108 
George  Washington,  the  Young  Soldier  .  .  .  .117 
James  Wolfe,  Who  Captured  Quebec  .  .  .  .  126 
When  Pontiac  Besieged  Detroit  .  .  .  .  .  135 
The  First  Day  of  the  Revolution  ....         143 

Israel  Putnam,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution      .         .        .     151 

A  Christmas  Surprise 158 

A  Winter  at  Valley  Forge 165 

How  "Mad  Anthony"  Took  Stony  Point  .  .  .  173 
How  the  "Swamp  Fox"  Made  the  British  Miserable  .  179 
George  Rogers  Clark,  Who  Gave  Three  States  to  the 

Union 185 

John  Paul  Jones  and  his  Sea  Fights  for  America  193 


vi  CONTENTS 

Daniel  Boone,  the  Kentucky  Pioneer  ....  200 

Meriwether  Lewis  and  William  Clark,  Who  Showed  the 

Way  to  the  Pacific 207 

Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  Who  Captured  a  British  Fleet  218 

Dolly  Madison,  Who  Guarded  the  Nation's  Treasures  .  224 

The  Star- Spangled  Banner       ....  231 

David  Crockett,  the  Tennessee  Pioneer  ....  237 

Christopher  Carson,  Trapper  and  Guide        .        .  246 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Pioneer  and  President         .        ,        ,  254 


i  l»     '.  ' j.  1 


CHEISTOPHEE   COLUMBUS 
WHO  FIRST  CROSSED  THE  ATLANTIC  OCEAN 

A  LITTLE  boy  once  lived  in  Genoa,  Italy,  whose 
earliest  memory  was  the  "  Boom,  boom  !  "  of  his 
father's  shuttle.  The  father  was  a  wool  comber  and 
weaver,  and  all  the  near  neighbors  were  weavers. 
When  the  boy  went  to  school  he  studied  and  played 
with  the  children  of  weavers;  and  when  he  went  to 
church  he  knelt  before  an  altar  that  belonged  specially 
to  the  weavers.  He  would  probably  have  become  a 
weaver  himself  if  Genoa  had  not  been  a  seashore  town. 
The  wharves  were  not  far  from  his  home;  and  even 
when  he  went  to  walk  on  the  hills  back  of  the  city, 
he  could  not  help  seeing  the  white-sailed  ships  coming 
and  going.  "When  he  was  fourteen,  he  sailed  away  on 
one  of  them,  and  for  fourteen  years  he  went  on  one 
voyage  after  another.  Between  the  voyages  he  helped 
his  father  comb  wool  and  weave. 

Genoa  was  full  of  sailor  boys.  No  one  knew  that  this 
boy  would  become  a  famous  man,  and  so  no  one  wrote 
any  account  of  his  boyhood.  Almost  the  only  thing  we 
know  about  his  early  years  is  that  he  managed  somehow 
to  learn  a  great  many  thing's.  He  learned  how  to  sail  a 
ship  by  watching  the  moon  and  stars  and  using  the 


-2  \  :  i  i  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

,  instruments,  thai  sailors  then  had.  He  learned  all  that 
was  Shown?  about  geography.  He  learned  to  draw  beau- 
tiful maps  and  sea-charts.  Some  of  these  maps  were 
different  from  those  of  to-day.  When  he  drew  a  map 
of  Europe,  for  instance,  he  put  the  Atlantic  Ocean  west 
of  the  Continent,  and  Asia  west  of  the  Atlantic.  Europe 
in  those  days  was  buying  spices,  silks,  and  many  other 
things  from  China  and  eastern  Asia;  but  bringing  them 
overland  by  caravans  was  very  expensive.  "  Why  can- 
not we  cross  the  Atlantic,"  Columbus  said  to  himself, 
"  and  so  go  directly  to  China  ?  " 

There  were  several  reasons  why  people  thought  this 
could  not  be  done.  A  few  believed  that  the  earth  was 
a  sphere  and  could  be  sailed  around.  But  some  said 
the  Atlantic  was  full  of  monsters  and  demons,  and 
others  thought  that  the  water  at  the  equator  was  boiling 
hot.  Columbus  was  not  troubled  by  any  of  these  fears, 
but  he  had  no  money  to  provide  ships  and  men  for  such 
a  voyage.  In  those  days  Portugal  was  a  great  sea 
power,  so  he  appealed  to  the  Portuguese  king.  "  If  you 
will  give  me  ships  and  men,"  he  said,  "  I  will  cross  the 
Atlantic.  Then  you  can  trade  directly  with  the  great 
cities  of  China  and  Japan,  and  Portugal  will  become  the 
richest  country  in  Europe."  He  gave  all  his  reasons 
for  believing  that  this  could  be  done,  and  King  John 
agreed  to  lay  the  matter  before  four  learned  men.  These 
men  replied,    "  It  is  a  wild  and  foolish  scheme."   But 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS  3 

one  of  them  added,  "  If  there  is  any  truth  in  it,  why 
should  we  let  this  foreigner  have  all  the  glory?   Let  us 


SDceantca 


CARAVEL  OF  THE  TIME  OF  COLUMBUS 
From  the  Latin  letter  of  Columbus  printed  in  1493 

keep  him  waiting  awhile  and  send  out  one  of  our 
own  sailors."  So  a  ship  was  sent  out  secretly;  but  a 
storm  arose,  and  in  a  few  days  it  came  back.    "  No  one 


4  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

can  ever  cross  the  Atlantic/'  declared  the  frightened 
captain. 

Columbus  heard  of  the  trick  and  was  indignant.  "  I 
will  go  to  the  sovereigns  of  Spain,"  he  said  to  himself; 
and  he  set  off  on  foot  to  cross  the  mountains.  Some 
time  before  this  he  had  married,  and  his  wife  had  died, 
leaving  him  a  little  boy,  Diego,  who  was  now  about  six 
years  old.  Diego  walked  until  he  was  tired,  then  his 
father  carried  him,  and  so  they  journeyed  into  Spain. 
Diego  was  left  with  his  aunt,  and  Columbus  made  an 
appeal  to  King  Ferdinand  and  Queen  Isabella.  The 
queen  liked  Columbus  and  was  interested  in  his  plans; 
but  when  she  asked  the  opinion  of  her  learned  council- 
ors, they  said,  as  the  council  in  Portugal  had  said,  "  It 
is  a  wild  and  foolish  scheme."  The  queen  was  not  con- 
vinced, but  the  kingdom  was  at  war  and  there  was  little 
money  to  spare  for  expeditions.  So,  after  seven  years  of 
waiting,  Columbus  took  Diego  and  set  off  for  France. 

Before  they  had  walked  far,  the  boy  was  hungry,  and 
his  father  rang  the  bell  of  the  convent  of  La  Rabida. 
"  Will  you  give  me  some  bread  for  my  son  ?  "  he  asked. 
"  Yes,  surely,"  replied  the  monks.  "  Bring  the  boy  in 
and  let  him  rest."  One  of  these  monks,  called  Brother 
Antonio,  noticed  that  Columbus  was  no  common  beggar, 
and  they  had  a  long  talk  together.  Brother  Antonio 
was  almost  as  much  interested  in  geography  and  astro- 
nomy as  Columbus  himself,  and   soon  Columbus   had 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS  5 

told  him  his  plans  for  crossing  the  ocean  and  all  his 
disappointments.  The  prior  of  the  convent  also  became 
interested.  "  Do  not  go  to  France  yet,"  he  said.  "  Be- 
fore I  came  here,  I  was  confessor  to  the  queen.  I  will 
write  to  her,  and  perhaps  she  will  listen  to  me."  She 
did  listen ;  and  before  many  days  had  passed,  the  little 
seaport  town  of  Palos  was  in  a  fever  of  excitement,  for 
three  ships  were  to  sail  from  there  to  cross  the  Atlantic, 
the  "  Sea  of  Darkness,"  as  it  was  called. 

One  bright  morning  in  August,  1492,  the  ships  sailed. 
"  They  will  never  come  back  again,"  said  the  wise  peo- 
ple on  the  shore ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  sailors 
were  ready  to  agree  with  them,  for  the  needle  of  the 
compass  no  longer  pointed  to  the  north.  Then  the  ships 
began  to  pass  great  masses  of  floating  seaweed.  "  It 
will  grow  thicker  and  thicker,"  said  the  sailors,  "  and 
we  shall  never  get  out  of  it."  Columbus  explained 
these  wonders  as  well  as  he  could,  but  soon  there  was 
more  trouble.  "  The  wind  always  blows  from  the  east," 
declared  the  men,  "  and  we  shall  never  be  able  to  get 
home  again."  Fortunately  the  wind  changed  one  day 
and  blew  from  the  west.  Day  after  day  passed,  and  still 
no  land  was  seen.  The  men  began  to  gather  in  little 
groups  and  to  whisper  together.  "  There  is  no  land 
here,"  they  said.  "  The  admiral  is  crazy.  Let  us  throw 
him  overboard  and  go  home  before  our  provisions  give 
out."    Columbus  learned  what  they  were  saying.   He 


6  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

called  them  up  before  him  and  said,  "  The  sovereigns 
of  Spain  have  sent  me  to  find  the  Indies,  and  with  the 
help  of  God  I  will  go  on  until  I  see  them."  The  very 
next  morning  a  green  rush  floated  by,  and  a  stick  that 
had  been  cut  was  picked  up.  Then  the  branch  of  some 
tree  with  red  berries  on  it  was  seen.  The  men  forgot 
their  fears  and  were  as  eager  as  the  admiral  himself  to 
hasten  on. 

Night  came,  but  Columbus  could  not  sleep.  He  stood 
gazing  earnestly  into  the  west,  and  suddenly  he  saw  a 
light  that  moved  as  if  some  one  was  walking  and  carry- 
ing a  torch.  When  the  moon  rose,  it  shone  on  the  white 
sand  of  one  of  the  islands  that  are  now  called  the 
Bahamas. 

In  the  morning  Columbus  put  on  his  richest  uniform, 
all  aglow  with  scarlet  and  gold,  and  was  rowed  ashore. 
He  fell  on  his  knees,  kissed  the  ground,  and  thanked 
God  for  his  goodness.  Then  he  unfurled  the  royal 
standard  and  cried,  "  In  the  name  of  the  glorious  sov- 
ereigns, Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  I  take  possession  of 
this  land  and  name  it  San  Salvador." 

All  this  time  a  crowd  of  people,  half  hidden  in  the 
woods,  were  watching  Columbus  and  his  men  with  wide- 
open  eyes.  At  first  they  were  frightened;  but  when 
they  saw  that  the  strangers  did  not  attempt  to  harm 
them,  they  came  nearer  and  nearer.  "  Those  are  good 
spirits  come  down  from   the  skies,"  they  whispered. 


8  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

They  threw  themselves  on  their  knees  before  the  Span- 
iards to  show  their  reverence.  Then  they  touched  the 
clothes  and  beards  and  white  skins  of  the  explorers, 
and  welcomed  them  as  well  as  they  could  by  signs. 
Columbus  gave  them  glass  beads  and  little  bells  and 
red  and  blue  caps,  and  they  brought  him  in  return  tame 
parrots,  baskets  of  fruit,  and  great  balls  of  cotton  yarn. 

These  natives  were  copper  colored.  Their  hair  was 
straight  and  black  and  they  had  no  beards.  They  were 
naked,  unless  the  rings  that  some  of  them  wore  in  their 
noses  could  be  called  articles  of  dress.  The  Spaniards 
looked  eagerly  at  these  rings,  for  they  seemed  to  be  of 
pure  gold.  "  Where  does  the  gold  come  from  ?  "  they 
asked  as  well  as  they  could  by  signs.  "  Over  there,"  the 
natives  replied,  pointing  to  the  southwest.  Columbus 
supposed  that  he  was  on  one  of  the  islands  off  east- 
ern Asia,  and  that  they  were  pointing  to  the  mainland. 
For  many  weeks  he  sailed  among  the  islands,  hoping  to 
find  some  of  the  great  cities  of  Asia.  Then  he  decided 
to  go  home  and  report  to  the  sovereigns.  "  I  can  come 
again  next  year,"  he  thought.  "  ¥ow  that  I  have  found 
the  way  to  India,  there  will  be  no  lack  of  ships  or  men." 

More  than  two  months  later,  the  bells  of  Palos  rang 
merrily,  the  shops  and  schools  were  closed,  and  the 
whole  town  flocked  to  the  wharves,  for  Columbus  was 
coming  up  the  river.  As  soon  as  he  had  landed,  a  pro- 
cession was  formed,  and  he  went  to  the  church  to  thank 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS  9 

God  for  bringing  him  safely  home.  It  is  easy  to  guess 
where  he  went  next,  for  Columbus  never  forgot  those 
who  had  been  kind  to  him.  He  went  straight  to  his 
old  friends,  the  monks  of  La  Kabida.  From  there  he 
sent  a  letter  to  the  sovereigns. 

Then  there  was  great  excitement  at  the  Spanish 
court.  The  sovereigns  wrote  Columbus  a  letter,  ad- 
dressed to  "  Don  Christopher  Columbus,  our  admiral  of 
the  ocean  sea,  and  viceroy  and  governor  of  the  islands 
discovered  in  the  Indies."  This  letter  bade  him  come 
to  court  at  once,  and  Columbus  obeyed.  All  the  way 
people  lined  the  roads  and  stood  at  the  doors  and  win- 
dows, gazing  at  the  great  man  and  cheering  as  he  went 
by.  When  he  reached  Barcelona,  a  procession  was 
formed.  First  came  six  Indians  whom  Columbus  had 
brought  with  him.  They  were  followed  by  the  sailors 
carrying  parrots,  stuffed  birds,  the  skins  of  Strange 
beasts,  plants,  berries,  and  ornaments  of  gold  that  had 
come  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Then  came 
the  admiral  on  horseback  in  a  handsome  uniform,  and 
after  him  a  brilliant  company  of  young  nobles  flashing 
with  jewels. 

When  they  reached  the  royal  audience  room,  there 
sat  the  king  and  queen  on  their  throne,  with  a  glittering 
canopy  of  cloth  of  gold  over  their  heads.  Around  them 
stood  the  courtiers  and  the  proudest  nobles  of  Spain, 
all  watching  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  man  who 


10  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

had  made  the  wonderful  voyage.  Among  them  must 
have  been  the  boy  Diego,  for  the  queen  had  made  him 
a  page  to  her  son. 

Columbus  walked  slowly  up  the  room,  gray-haired, 
dignified,  as  stately  as  any  of  the  lordly  Spaniards.   He 


COLUMBUS  RECOUNTING  HIS  ADVENTURES  AT  COURT 


knelt  before  the  throne  to  kiss  the  hands  ot  the  sover- 
eigns; but  they  rose  as  they  would  have  risen  to  greet 
any  mighty  king  and  bade  him  be  seated.  Then  he 
told  them  about  the  voyage,  the  new  lands,  and  the 
strange  people  whom  he  had  seen.  "  There  are  even 
greater  discoveries  before  us,"  he  said.    "  The  wealth 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS  11 

of  many  kingdoms  will  come  to  Spain,  and  there  are 
thousands  of  heathen  to  whom  Spain  can  teach  the 
religion  of  Christ." 

The  king  and  queen  wished  Columbus  to  make  an- 
other voyage  at  once.  He  did  not  have  to  plead  for  help 
now,  for  they  said,  "  Send  us  the  list  of  what  vessels, 
food,  and  arms  you  will  need,  and  they  shall  be  sup- 
plied." As  for  men,  there  were  thousands  who  would 
have  been  glad  to  go  with  him,  for  people  believed  that 
whoever  went  on  this  voyage  would  make  his  fortune. 
Soon  the  fleet  of  seventeen  vessels  was  ready,  and 
crowds  of  people  stood  on  the  shore  cheering  as  it 
sailed  away. 

It  is  almost  a  pity  that  the  story  of  Columbus  does 
not  end  here,  for  in  the  rest  of  his  life  there  was  much 
trouble  and  disappointment.  He  went  on  a  third  voyage, 
and  this  time  he  coasted  along  the  continent  of  South 
America.  He  would  have  been  glad  to  explore  farther, 
but  he  had  to  go  to  Hayti  to  care  for  some  colonists 
who  had  crossed  the  ocean  with  him  on  his  second 
voyage.  They  had  no  idea  of  working  for  the  wealth 
they  expected  to  get.  They  were  discontented  and 
quarrelsome,  and  they  blamed  Columbus  for  all  their 
troubles.  Some  of  them  returned  to  Spain,  and  there 
made  such  complaints  of  the  admiral  that  an  officer 
named  Bobadilla  was  sent  to  Hayti  to  take  his  place. 
Bobadilla  threw  Columbus  into  chains  and  accused  him 


12  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

of  so  many  crimes  that  he  expected  to  be  put  to  death 
without  even  a  hearing.  The  great  man  was  taken  on 
board  a  vessel  to  be  carried  back  to  Spain.  As  soon 
as  they  were  away  from  Bobadilla,  the  captain  and  the 
owner  of  the  vessel  knelt  before  the  prisoner  and  began 
to  take  off  his  irons.  "  KTo,"  said  the  admiral,  "  the  king 
and  queen  sent  the  man  who  put  these  chains  upon  me, 
and  they  alone  shall  take  them  off." 

All  the  way  to  Spain  Columbus  wore  the  fetters,  but 
he  was  treated  with  as  much  honor  as  could  have  been 
shown  to  the  king  himself;  and  as  soon  as  the  sover- 
eigns saw  what  wrong  had  been  done  him,  they  tried 
to  make  amends.  Still  they  were  almost  as  much  dis- 
appointed as  the  colonists,  for  they  had  expected  that 
Columbus  would  find  the  rich  cities  of  Asia.  Some- 
thing had  happened,  too,  while  he  was  gone  on  this 
voyage,  that  made  them  even  more  dissatisfied.  A  Por- 
tuguese named  Yasco  da  Gama  had  discovered  that  it 
was  possible  to  sail  around  Africa;  and  he  had  returned 
with  loads  of  silks  and  satins,  spices,  ivory,  emeralds, 
and  rubies.  "  That  is  the  way  to  go  to  the  Indies," 
declared  the  sea  captains.  "  What  is  the  use  of  trying 
to  get  to  Japan  and  China  by  crossing  the  Atlantic?  " 

Then  Columbus  determined  to  go  on  a  fourth  voyage. 
He  had  no  thought  that  a  vast  continent  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean  lay  between  China  and  the  islands  that  he  had 
seen.   He  believed  that  he  could  find  a  passage  between 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS  13 

the  islands  which  would  lead  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Of  course  no  such  passage  could  be 
found,  and  he  had  to  return  to  Spain,  where  he  died 
less  than  two  years  later.  He  had  dreamed  of  being 
very  rich;  all  his  life  he  was  poor.  He  had  dreamed  of 
finding  the  Indies;  he  had  failed.  He  died  a  disap- 
pointed man;  but  if  he  could  have  looked  ahead  four 
hundred  years  and  seen  the  America  of  to-day,  he 
would  surely  have  rejoiced  that  he  was  the  discoverer, 
not  of  a  shorter  way  to  India,  but  of  a  mighty  con- 
tinent. 

OUTLINE 

Boyhood  of  Columbus  —  plan  for  crossing  the  Atlantic  —  sup- 
posed dangers  of  the  voyage  —  appeal  to  Portugal  —  trickery  of 
the  Portuguese  —  journey  to  Spain  —  appeal  to  the  Spanish  sov- 
ereigns—  La  Rabida —  Columbus  sails  at  last  —  troubles  of  the 
voyage  —  signs  of  land  —  going  ashore  —  the  natives  —  the  return 
to  Spain  —  Columbus  at  court  —  second  voyage  —  third  voyage  — 
the  discontented  colonists  —  Columbus  in  chains  —  Portuguese 
discoveries  —  fourth  voyage  —  death. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR   WRITTEN  WORK 

Diego  tells  another  boy  of  his  journey  from  Portugal  to  Spain, 
and  of  his  visit  to  La  Rabida. 

Columbus  appeals  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 

A  sailor  gives  an  account  of  Columbus's  first  voyage. 

A  native  of  San  Salvador  describes  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards. 


14  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

FERDINAND    MAGELLAN 

WHO   FOUND   THE   WAY  AROUND   THE  WORLD 

WHILE  Columbus  was  trying  to  persuade  the 
Portuguese  king  to  provide  him  with  ships  for 
crossing  the  "  Sea  of  Darkness,"  a  baby  was  born  far 
up  among  the  mountains  of  Portugal  who  was  to  be- 
come as  great  a  sailor  as  the  famous  admiral  himself. 
When  this  child,  Ferdinand  Magellan,  became  a  man, 
he  found  himself  living  in  exciting  times.  Now  that 
Columbus  had  shown  the  way,  others  crossed  the  At- 
lantic. They  explored  various  parts  of  the  coast,  and  at 
last  people  began  to  realize  that  not  a  group  of  islands 
but  a  great  mass  of  land  lay  between  the  Atlantic 
and  China.  They  hoped  to  find  a  passage  through  it. 
Everybody  was  talking  about  voyages.  From  early  in 
the  morning  till  long  after  the  sun  had  set,  the  hammers 
of  the  shipbuilders  rang;  and  sometimes  the  last  blow 
was  hardly  struck  on  a  vessel  before  every  place  was 
taken,  from  captain  to  cabin  boy. 

Magellan  served  in  the  Portuguese  navy  faithfully  for 
many  years,  but  when  he  asked  for  the  promotion  that 
was  his  due,  the  king  refused.  "  Will  you  give  me  per- 
mission to  serve  some  other  sovereign? "  demanded 
Magellan.  "  Do  what  you  like,"  the  king  replied  coldly. 
Magellan  knelt  to  kiss  his  hand,  as  was  usual  in  parting, 


FERDINAND  MAGELLAN  15 

but  the  king  drew  it  back.  The  indignant  sailor  went 
straight  to  Spain  and  laid  his  plans  before  the  Spanish 
ruler. 

"  I  have  been  in  the  Indies  for  seven  years,"  he  said, 
"  and  I  know  what  wealth  one  can  get  by  buying  spices 
of  the  natives.  My 
friend  Serrano  is  now 
in  the  Moluccas,  and 
this  is  what  he  writes 
me."  He  showed  the 
letter  of  Serrano  in 
which  was  written, 
"Here  is  a  new  world. 
Come  if  you  want  to 
get  rich."  Then  said 
Magellan,  "If  you 
will  give  me  ships 
and  men,  I  will  go 
to  the  lands  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  I 
will  follow  the  coast 
southward  till  I  come 
to  some  strait  that  leads  to  the  China  Sea.  I  will  find  the 
way  to  the  Moluccas,  and  I  will  bring  home  such  loads 
of  spices  as  never  yet  came  into  any  Spanish  port." 

The  king  granted  his  request,  and  then  came  a  busy 
time  of  making  ready.   The  ships  must  carry  provisions 


MAGELLAN 


16  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

for  two  years  at  least.  They  must  have  a  good  supply 
of  powder  and  shot  and  cannon  balls  of  iron  and  of 
stone.  There  must  be  darts  and  javelins  and  lances  and 
pikes  and  crossbows  and  arquebuses  and  coats  of  mail. 
The  natives  of  the  Moluccas  would  not  care  for  money, 
but  they  would  care  for  glass  beads,  fishhooks,  and 
bright-colored  cloth,  brass  and  copper  bracelets,  brass 
basins,  little  bells,  knives,  scissors,  and  looking-glasses ; 
therefore  a  great  quantity  of  these  things  was  stored 
in  the  holds  of  the  vessels.  There  were  twenty  thousand 
little  bells,  for  instance,  and  five  hundred  pounds  of 
glass  beads. 

These  treasures  were  useful  long  before  the  explorers 
came  to  the  Moluccas.  Their  first  landing-place  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  was  in  the  Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
and  there  the  natives  swarmed  about  the  ships.  "  Give 
me  that,"  one  would  say  by  signs,  "  and  you  may  have 
this."  The  native  would  paddle  away  with  a  little  bell 
or  a  fishhook,  and  the  sailors  would  hasten  to  cook  the 
big  basketful  of  sweet  potatoes  or  the  half-dozen  fowl 
that  he  had  given  in  exchange. 

The  ships  kept  close  to  the  shore,  and  before  long 
they  were  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  "  It  is 
possible  that  this  is  a  strait,"  thought  Magellan.  For 
two  days  he  sailed  up  the  stream,  but  the  water  became 
fresher  every  hoar,  so  he  knew  that  he  was  in  a  river. 
He   turned   back  and  went   on  to   the   south,  gazing 


FERDINAND  MAGELLAN  17 

closely  at  every  opening  that  looked  as  if  it  might  be 
a  passage.  The  weather  grew  colder  and  colder;  and 
at  last  he  saw  that  he  could  go  no  farther  before  spring. 
So  he  anchored  in  a  sheltered  bay  and  shortened  the 
rations.  Then  he  had  to  meet  greater  trouble  than  ice 
and  snow,  for  the  sailors  began  to  grumble.  "  There  is 
no  strait,"  they  said.  "  This  land  stretches  from  pole  to 
pole.  Our  lives  are  worth  more  than  all  the  cloves  of 
the  Moluccas.   Let  us  start  for  home." 

Magellan,  however,  had  no  idea  of  giving  up.  "  Of 
what  do  you  complain?"  he  asked.  "Here  is  a  sheltered 
bay  with  plenty  of  wood.  There  are  fish  in  its  waters 
and  there  are  birds  on  its  shores.  The  winter  will  soon 
be  past,  and  then  we  can  push  on  to  a  world  that  is  rich 
in  gold  and  spices.  Your  king  will  not  forget  to  reward 
you.  Will  you  go  back  to  Spain  and  say,  6  We  were 
cold,  and  so  we  came  home  '  ?  You  are  Spaniards,  and 
Spaniards  are  brave.  I  would  rather  die  than  turn 
back !  "  After  this  talk  the  sailors  were  content,  but  the 
captains  led  them  into  a  second  rebellion.  Then  the 
admiral  did  not  plead,  but  punished  the  leaders  severely. 

One  morning  an  amazingly  tall  man  appeared  on  the 
shore  of  the  bay.  He  danced  and  sang  and  poured  sand 
on  his  head.  "  Go  ashore,"  said  Magellan  to  one  of  his 
men.  "  Do  whatever  he  does,  and  see  if  you  can  make 
friends  with  him."  The  sailor  went  ashore.  When  the 
giant  danced,  he  danced;  and  when  the  giant  poured 


18  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

sand  on  his  head,  the  sailor  poured  sand  on  his  own 
head.  "  Come  on  board  our  ship,"  said  the  sailor  by 
signs,  and  the  native  went.  He  was  so  tall  that  it  is 
said  the  Spaniards  came  up  only  to  his  waistband.  They 
soon  found  that  he  was  strong,  for  when  they  showed 
him  his  face  in  a  little  looking-glass,  he  was  so  amazed 
that  he  jumped  backward  with  a  force  that  threw  four 
men  down  on  the  deck.  Other  natives  almost  as  tall 
came  afterwards.  Their  feet  were  dressed  so  clumsily 
that  the  Spaniards  called  them  Patagonians,  or  large- 
footed  men.  These 
giants  were  good-na- 
tured and  gentle.  The 
chaplain  taught  one  of 
them  to  say  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  he  was  so 
pleased  that  he  walked 
about  shouting  it  at  the 
top  of  his  voice. 

As  soon  as  spring  had 
come,  the  ships  went 
on .  Another  opening 
showed  itself.  "  It  may 
be  the  strait  we  are  look- 
ing for,"  thought  Magellan,  and  he  sent  two  of  his 
ships  to  explore.  Suddenly  a  fierce  storm  broke  out. 
Several  days  passed,  but  no  ships  appeared.     "  They 


ONE  OF  MAGELLAN'S   SHIPS 
From  a  drawing  of  the  sixteenth  century 


FERDINAND   MAGELLAN  19 

are  surely  wrecked,"  said  the  sailors,  gazing  anxiously 
over  the  water.  "  What  is  that  coming  around  the 
point  ?  "  one  of  them  cried,  for  he  had  caught  sight  of 
a  white  sail  shining  in  the  sun.  In  a  moment  more  the 
two  lost  ships  were  in  view.  All  sails  were  set,  and 
flags  and  pennons  were  fluttering  in  the  wind.  "Boom! 
Boom !  "  went  the  big  guns.  "  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  the 
men  on  the  lost  vessels.  "  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  the  men 
who  had  been  waiting.  "What  have  you  found  ?  " 
Magellan  called  eagerly.    "  Is  it  a  bay  V  " 

"  It  is  a  deep  channel,"  they  replied;  "  it  is  no  bay  and 


no  river." 


The  admiral  called  his  captains  and  pilots.  "  Shall  we 
go  on?"  he  asked. 

"  ~No !  "  replied  one  of  the  pilots.  "  We  have  not  much 
food,  and  if  there  should  be  a  storm  or  a  calm  for 
some  time,  we  should  starve.  We  have  found  the  strait, 
and  now  let  us  go  home  and  come  back  with  another 
fleet." 

"  Do  you  all  agree  ?  "  demanded  Magellan. 

"No!"  cried  the  others.  "  Why  should  we  go  back 
now  that  the  way  has  become  easy !  The  Moluccas  must 
be  close  at  hand.    Let  us  keep  on." 

"  We  will,"  declared  Magellan  quietly,  and  he  would 
probably  have  said  the  same  whether  the  others  agreed 
or  not;  "we  will  go  on  till  we  have  found  the  Moluc- 
cas.   We  will  keep  our  promise  to  the  king  if  we  have 


20  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

to  eat  the  leather  on  the  ships'  yards.  May  God  help  us 
and  give  us  good  fortune  !  " 

On  they  went  through  the  winding  passage  which 
was  afterwards  known  as  the  Strait  of  Magellan;  and  at 
last  there  came  a  day  when  the  stern  commander  wept 
for  joy,  for  before  him  spread  a  broad  ocean  so  calm 
and  quiet  that  he  called  it  the  Pacific. 

Now  the  navigators  of  that  day  made  one  great  mis- 
take :  they  thought  the  earth  was  much  smaller  than  it 
is.  Magellan  supposed  that  he  was  perhaps  a  two  or 
three  weeks'  sail  from  the  Moluccas;  but  he  went  on  and 
on,  and  still  they  seemed  to  come  no  nearer.  There  were 
provisions  for  only  three  months,  and  two  months  had 
already  passed.  "  Land  ahead !  "  cried  the  watch  one 
day,  and  then  every  one  was  happy.  But  the  land  proved 
to  be  only  a  little  island  with  no  water,  no  fruit,  no  food 
of  any  kind.  It  was  too  late  to  turn  back,  for  they  had 
not  provisions  enough  for  the  voyage  across  the  Atlan- 
tic; so  they  spread  all  sail  and  went  onward,  watching 
the  western  horizon  as  closely  as  Columbus  had  done. 
The  little  water  that  was  left  on  board  was  so  brackish 
that,  thirsty  as  they  were,  they  could  hardly  drink  it. 
The  biscuits  were  stale.  At  last  even  these  gave  out,  and 
the  men  really  did  eat  the  leather  on  the  ships'  yards. 
They  were  almost  ready  to  eat  the  ships  themselves. 

After  fourteen  weeks  of  suffering  on  the  Pacific,  it 
was  rather  hard  that,  when  they  did  come  to  land,  they 


FERDINAND  MAGELLAN  21 

should  fall  among  thieves.  But  so  it  was.  They  anchored 
off  a  group  of  islands  to  buy  food,  and  the  natives 
swarmed  over  the  vessels  and  stole  from  under  the 
owners'  very  eyes  everything  they  could  lay  their  hands 
upon.  They  did  not  spare  even  the  admiral,  for  they 
stole  the  small  boat  which  hung  at  the  stern  of  his  ship. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  he  named  the  islands  Ladrones,  or 
the  thieves'  islands. 

Then  came  another  group  of  islands  which  long  after- 
wards were  called  Philippines;  and  now  the  sailors  had 
plenty  of  oranges,  cocoanuts,  and  "  figs  a  foot  long,"  as 
they  called  bananas. 

"  Where  is  the  best  place  to  buy  spices  ?  "  Magellan 
asked  the  chief. 

"  Over  at  the  island  of  Sebu,"  he  replied. 

"  Will  you  give  us  guides  to  show  us  the  way?  " 

"  If  you  will  help  me  get  my  rice  in,  I  myself  will 
show  you,"  was  the  reply.  So  the  proud  Spaniards  went 
out  among  the  rice  and  worked  two  days  to  help  a 
savage  chief  bring  in  his  crop.  Then  they  all  sailed  to 
Sebu. 

The  king  of  Sebu  was  very  friendly.  "  You  shall  be 
my  brother,"  he  said  to  Magellan,  "and  no  one  but 
Spaniards  shall  trade  in  my  land."  They  made  a  formal 
treaty  of  friendship.  "  I  will  help  you  to  punish  those 
who  do  not  obey  you,"  said  Magellan.  The  chief  of  the 
little  island  of  Mactan  had  no  idea  of  obeying  the  king 


22  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

of  Sebu,  and  Magellan  set  out  to  punish  him,  "  Do  not 
do  it,"  pleaded  the  admiral's  friends.  "  It  is  no  gain  to 
us  if  we  conquer  them."  He  would  not  yield,  however, 
for  the  friendliness  of  the  king  of  Sebu  had  given  him 
an  idea  which  he  meant  to  carry  out.  "  What  a  glorious 
thing  it  would  be,"  he  had  said  to  himself,  "  if  I  could 
report  to  the  king  of  Spain  that  all  these  islands  are  will- 
ing to  obey  him  and  to  trade  with  no  other  countries !  % 
He  made  ready  for  what  he  thought  would  be  only  a  little 
skirmish.  It  never  entered  his  mind  that  forty-nine  men 
in  armor  could  be  overpowered  by  any  number  of  sav- 
ages ;  so  the  Spaniards  rowed  boldly  up  to  the  island  and 
landed.  They  were  greeted  with  a  storm  of  arrows  and 
spears;  but  where  were  the  islanders?  Safely  hidden  in 
the  bushes.  Not  one  Spanish  shot  in  twenty  did  them  any 
harm.  Of  course  they  tried  hardest  to  kill  Magellan. 
He  was  wounded  manv  times;  but  he  held  out  for  a 
long  while,  hoping  to  give  his  men  time  to  retreat.  At 
last  he  fell.  One  of  the  men  who  kept  close  by  his  side 
wrote  afterwards,  "  The  Indians  threw  themselves  upon 
him  with  iron-pointed  bamboo  spears  and  scimitars  and 
every  weapon  they  had,  and  ran  him  through  until  they 
killed  him."  The  Spaniards  retreated  to  their  ships. 
That  night  they  sent  a  messenger  to  beg  for  the  ad- 
miral's body.  "  Give  it  to  us  and  you  shall  have  cloth, 
bells,  knives,  wrhatever  you  like,"  he  said.  But  the  sav- 
ages replied,  "  No,  not  for  the  whole  world.   We  shall 


FERDINAND  MAGELLAN  23 

keep  that  body,  and  then  we  can  say  to  our  enemies, 
<  See  what  we  took  from  the  lordly  Spaniards  ! '  " 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  press  on  to  the 
Moluccas,  and  before  long  the  vessels  were  off  the  little 
island  of  Tidor.  The  chief  came  on  board  for  a  friendly 
call.  He  was  not  an  altogether  easy  visitor  to  entertain, 
for,  as  he  would  never  bow  his  head,  it  was  rather  diffi- 
cult to  get  him  safely  into  the  little  cabin.  He  and  the 
Spaniards  agreed  on  how  much  should  be  paid  for  cloves. 
Red  cloth,  yellow  cloth,  linen,  hatchets,  knives,  scissors, 
and  caps  were  to  be  given  in  generous  quantities;  but 
soon  there  were  so  many  cloves  to  be  sold  and  so  few  to 
buy  them  that  a  yard  of  bright-colored  ribbon  would  pay 
for  one  hundred  pounds  of  the  precious  spice.  Every 
sailor  was  allowed  to  carry  home  a  certain  number  of 
pounds.  All  were  eager  to  buy,  and  when  their  trinkets 
gave  out,  they  bartered  even  their  jackets  and  shirts; 
so  they  were  somewhat  scantily  clad  when  they  sailed 
homeward. 

Five  vessels  had  left  Spain.  One  was  lost  off  the  coast 
of  Patagonia;  one  proved  unseaworthy  and  was  burned; 
one  deserted  and  returned  to  Spain ;  one  finally  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Portuguese;  and  the  Victoria  alone 
was  left.  As  she  crossed  the  Indian  Ocean  and  rounded 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  air  must  have  been  fragrant 
behind  her,  for,  besides  all  that  the  officers  and  sailors 
bought  for  themselves,  she  carried  twenty-six  tons  of 


24  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

cloves.  In  1522,  three  years  from  the  time  that  the 
Victoria  sailed  away,  she  anchored  near  Seville.  Ma- 
gellan was  gone;  but  it  was  he  who  planned  the  voyage, 
and  it  was  his  courage  and  perseverance  that  made  it 
possible.  His  body  remained  in  far-away  Mactan,  but 
the  glory  of  the  first  journey  around  the  world  is  his 
alone. 

OUTLINE 
What  was  known  of  the  western  lands  in  Magellan's  day  — 
Magellan's  request  of  the  king  of  Portugal  —  his  appeal  to  the  king 
of  Spain  —  preparations  for  the  voyage  —  barter  with  the  South 
Americans  —  up  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  —  discontent  of  the  sailors  — 
discovery  of  the  Strait  of  Magellan  —  crossing  the  Pacific  — the 
Ladrones  —  the  Philippines  —  the  alliance  with  the  king  of  Sebu 
—  the  fight  at  Mactan  —  death  of  Magellan  —  buying  cloves  —  the 
homeward  voyage. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  boy  tells  his  father  why  he  wishes  to  sail  with  Magellan, 

A  sailor  describes  the  meeting  with  the  Patagonians. 

A  sailor  tells  his  friends  at  home  of  buying  cloves  at  Tidor. 

FEANCIS  DEAKE 
SEAMAN   OF   QUEEN   ELIZABETH 

WITHEST  fifty  years  after  Columbus  had  shown  the 
way  to  America,  Spaniards,  Italians,  English, 
French,  and  Portuguese  visited  the  New  World.  All 
wore  hoping  to  find  gold;  but  the  Spaniards  were  most 


FRANCIS   DRAKE 


25 


FRANC  JSCVS  DRAECK.--KTOBILJSSIMVS 
EaVES  ANCUAE  •    IS  ZST  QVI  TOTO  T 

'EKRARVM"       .<rfeafc^     ORBE  GRSNDVeo 


jd  Ciftwmauao  v  niosco 
m&mymuline,  in  t*Mftch> 


successful,  for  they  con- 
quered Mexico  and 
Peru,  and  won  their  rich 
mines  of  gold  and  silver. 
Every  year  ships  loaded 
with  American  treasure 
sailed  into  Spanish  ports. 
England  and  Spain  were 
not  on  good  terms,  and 
it  was  the  special  delight 
of  the  English  seamen  to 
capture  a  treasure  ship. 
One  of  the  most  daring 
of  these  seamen  was 
named  Francis  Drake. 

Even  when  Drake  was 
a  very  small  boy,  he 
wanted  to  go  to  sea.  If 
there  had  been  no  one  to 
object,  he  could  almost 
have  launched  his  own  house  and  sailed  away  on  the 
ocean,  for  he,  his  parents,  and  a  troop  of  younger 
brothers  lived  in  the  hulk  of  a  great  war-ship  that  lay 
just  off  the  queen's  dockyard  in  Chatham.  When  he 
awoke  in  the  early  morning,  he  could  hear  the  little  waves 
beating  against  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  Then  as  he  lay 
and  listened,  the  sound  of  hammers  could  be  heard,  the 


FRAXCIF   DRAKE 

From  an  original  portrait  in  St.  James's 
Palace 


26  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

creaking  of  ropes,  and  the  songs  of  the  workmen  in  the 
dockyard.  Strange,  wild  dreams  had  this  little  bine-eyed 
boy.  "  Some  day,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  I  will  go  off  on 
one  of  those  boats  that  the  men  are  building.  I  will  fight 
with  the  Spaniards,  and  I  will  capture  great  ships  loaded 
with  silver  and  gold.  Then  when  I  come  sailing  back  to 
Plymouth,  the  people  on  the  wharf  will  shout,  '  Three 
cheers  for  Francis  Drake  !  '  " 

With  his  mind  full  of  such  dreams  as  these,  he  must 
have  felt  disappointed  when  he  was  sent  to  sea  with  the 
skipper  of  a  small  trading  vessel.  There  was  no  hope 
of  capturing  Spanish  ships,  for  the  little  craft  did  no- 
thing but  sail  quietly  back  and  forth  between  England 
and  Holland  or  France,  carrying  goods  to  sell  in  the 
different  markets.  Still  he  was  at  least  on  the  ocean; 
so  he  made  the  best  of  it,  and  worked  so  faithfully  that 
when  the  skipper  died,  he  gave  the  young  sailor  the 
boat.  Drake  might  have  gone  on  trading  if  Spain  and 
England  had  been  friends;  but  Spain  had  begun  to  send 
out  vessels  to  seize  every  English  craft  that  could  be 
captured,  and  Francis  Drake's  little  coaster  would  have 
stood  small  chance  of  escape.  So  he  sold  it,  and  went 
on  several  voyages  on  vessels  that  were  larger  and  bet- 
ter able  to  protect  themselves. 

On  one  of  these  voyages  he  sailed  away  in  the  highest 
spirits.  "  When  I  come  back,  I  shall  be  a  rich  man,"  he 
said  to  himself.    There  were  six  vessels  in  the  little 


FRANCIS   DRAKE  27 

squadron.  The  admiral  was  a  famous  sailor,  Sir  John 
Hawkins.  Drake  was  put  in  command  of  the  Judith. 
They  sailed  to  the  African  coast,  seized  some  negroes, 
carried  them  to  the  Spanish  settlements,  and  sold  them 
as  slaves.  The  ships  were  loaded  with  the  gold  and 
pearls  which  had  been  received  in  payment,  and  started 
for  England.  Before  they  had  sailed  many  days,  they 
were  so  disabled  by  a  storm  that  the  admiral  had  to  put 
into  the  Spanish  port  of  Yera  Cruz  for  repairs.  There, 
in  the  harbor,  were  twelve  great  Spanish  ships  loaded 
with  gold  and  silver.  On  the  following  day  twelve 
more  arrived  with  the  same  sort  of  cargo.  Hawkins 
and  Drake  said  to  the  Spaniards,  "We  wish  to  refit 
our  vessels  and  sail  for  home.  If  you  will  agree  not  to 
interfere  with  us,  we  will  not  touch  your  ships."  The 
agreement  was  made,  and  for  three  days  everything  was 
quiet  and  friendly.  Then,  in  spite  of  all  their  promises, 
the  Spaniards  suddenly  made  a  fierce  attack  on  the 
English  vessels.  Hawkins  in  the  Minion  and  Drake  in 
the  Judith  succeeded  in  escaping  and  making  their 
way  to  England;  but  the  pearls  and  gold  went  to  the 
bottom  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Drake  reached  home  before  the  admiral,  and  told  his 
story  of  the  treachery  of  the  Spaniards.  He  had  lost  all 
that  he  had  invested,  and  he  appealed  to  the  queen  to 
oblige  Spain  to  make  his  loss  good.  Queen  Elizabeth 
was  not  sure  that  England  was  strong  enough  to  fight 


28  AMERICAN   HERO  STORIES 

with  Spain,  so  she  did  nothing  for  him.  Then  Drake 
took  matters  into  his  own  hands.  He  went  on  voyage 
after  voyage.  He  robbed  Spanish  colonies,  and  he  took 
Spanish  gold  and  jewels  wherever  he  could  find  them. 
King  Philip  of  Spain  complained  bitterly  of  the  "  mas- 
ter thief  of  the  western  world/'  but  the  queen  did  not 
punish  her  seaman. 

On  one  of  his  voyages  Drake  had  landed  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  made  his  way  across  it.  When 
he  reached  the  highest  point  of  the  isthmus,  the  Indians 
who  were  his  guides  showed  him  a  tall  tree.  "  Climb 
it,"  they  said;  and  Drake  obeyed  eagerly.  Steps  had 
been  cut  into  the  tree,  and  soon  he  was  on  a  little  plat- 
form which  was  supported  by  the  branches.  Behold,  a 
vast  ocean  was  on  either  hand.  "Behind  you  is  the 
North  Sea,  from  which  you  have  come,"  said  his  guides, 
"  and  before  you  is  the  South  Sea."  "  Into  which  I  will 
go,"  said  Drake  to  himself.  "  May  God  give  me  leave 
and  life  to  sail  an  English  ship  on  that  sea  but  once  ! " 
he  cried. 

Year  after  year  passed.  One  night  a  messenger  came 
to  Drake  to  say,  "  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  wishes  to 
see  you."  The  bluff  sailor  and  the  mighty  sovereign 
had  a  long  talk.  Not  many  months  later  five  ships  sailed 
out  of  Plymouth  Harbor  under  Drake's  command.  They 
were  not  only  fully  armed,  but  they  were  provided  with 
all  the  luxuries  of  the  time.    The  fragrance  of  costly 


FRANCIS   DRAKE  29 

perfumes  floated  back  to  the  crowds  on  the  wharf.  The 
furnishings  of  the  admiral's  cabin  were  of  the  richest 
satin  and  velvet.  The  table  was  spread  with  the  finest 
of  linen  and  laid  with  dishes  of  silver  and  gold.  When 
the  commander  was  ready  to  dine,  the  sound  of  violins 
was  heard,  and  the  music  continued  until  the  meal  was 
ended* 

As  the  ship  sailed  away,  some  people  on  the  wharf 
said,  "  I  hope  his  voyage  to  Egypt  will  be  a  success." 
Others  retorted,  "Those  ships  will  never  see  Egypt; 
they  are  going  to  trade  and  explore  in  the  South  Sea." 
Still  others  smiled  knowingly  and  said  to  themselves, 
"  The  exploring  will  be  searching  for  Spanish  ships, 
and  the  trading  will  be  seizing  Spanish  treasures."  This 
last  was  exactly  what  Drake  meant  to  do ;  but  if  a  hint 
of  his  plans  had  reached  Spain,  the  treasures  would 
have  been  safely  hidden.  Sixty  years  earlier  Magellan 
had  sailed  through  the  strait  that  bears  his  name,  but 
no  one  else  had  ever  succeeded  in  making  the  voyage. 
"  What  Magellan  did,  I  can  do,"  thought  Drake,  and 
he  sailed  down  the  coast  of  South  America  and  steered 
boldly  into  the  strait.  Two  vessels  had  already  been 
broken  up  as  unseaworthy;  a  fierce  tempest  scattered 
the  other  three;  one  sank;  and  the  commander  of  the 
second  went  home  in  despair.  For  fifty-two  days  Drake 
was  driven  about  by  terrible  storms.  When  the  gales 
ceased,  he  found  that   his  vessel  was   lying  among  a 


30  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

group  of  islands.  He  landed  on  the  most  southern  and 
walked  alone  to  its  farthest  extremity.  There  he  stood 
looking  at  the  breakers  rolling  up  on  the  shore.  Before 
him  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  mingled. 
He  threw  himself  on  the  ground,  clasped  his  arms  about 
a  jagged  rock,  and  said  to  himself,  "  I  am  the  only  man 
in  the  world  who  has  ever  been  so  far  south." 

The  exciting  part  of  the  voyage  was  yet  to  come. 
Some  of  the  treasure  that  the  Spaniards  took  from 
Peru  was  carried  to  Panama  by  land,  and  some  was 
loaded  on  shipboard  and  carried  up  the  coast  to  the 
isthmus.  One  of  these  ships  with  a  cargo  of  good  yellow 
gold  was  lying  in  Valparaiso.  The  crew  caught  sight  of 
white  sails  coming  toward  them.  "  See ! "  they  cried. 
"  There  's  one  of  our  ships !  Get  the  wine  ready  and  we 
wTill  make  a  night  of  it!"  The  flags  were  run  up  and 
the  drums  were  beaten  in  welcome;  but  almost  before 
the  Spaniards  had  discovered  their  mistake,  the  Eng- 
lishmen had  seized  the  ship  and  fastened  the  men  under 
the  hatches.  So  it  was  that  the  Golden  Hind  went  mer- 
rily up  the  coast,  now  and  then  seizing  a  vessel  full  of 
provisions  or  valuables.  One  day  some  of  the  men  went 
ashore,  and  there  they  came  across  a  man  who  had  laid 
down  his  burden  of  silver  bars  and  fallen  asleep.  "  Par- 
don us,  sir,"  they  said  with  mock  politeness  in  the  best 
Spanish  they  could  muster.  "  We  are  grieved  to  dis- 
turb you,  but  we  will  make  amends.   We  will  relieve 


FRANCIS  DRAKE  31 

you  of  the  weight  of  the  silver,  and  then  your  journey 
will  be  less  wearisome." 

Drake  was  aiming  for  Lima,  where  he  expected  to 
find  vessels  worth  capturing.  The  vessels  were  there, 
but  every  ounce  of  treasure  had  either  been  taken  ashore 
or  carried  away  two  weeks  earlier  on  a  ship  which  was 
known  among  sailors  as  the  Spitfire.  "  We  will  catch 
her,"  thought  Drake,  and  he  set  out  in  pursuit.  He 
captured  one  ship.  "Where  is  the  Spitfire?"  he  de- 
manded. "  Ten  days  ahead,"  was  the  reply.  The  next 
capture  said,  "  Five  days,"  and  the  next,  "  Two  days." 
Then  Drake  swung  before  the  eyes  of  the  sailors  a 
golden  chain  that  gleamed  and  glittered  in  the  sunshine. 
"  This  goes  to  the  man  who  sees  the  Spitfire  first,"  he 
said.  A  boy,  Drake's  own  nephew,  was  the  fortunate 
one  to  win  the  reward.  The  Spitfire  yielded  without  a 
blow,  and  such  a  cargo  went  into  the  hold  of  the  Golden 
Hind  as  no  English  vessel  had  ever  carried  before: 
thirteen  chests  of  Spanish  dollars,  eighty  pounds  of 
gold,  twenty-six  tons  of  silver,  and  more  jewels  than 
could  be  counted.  Two  or  three  other  vessels  were 
captured,  but  they  proved  to  be  loaded  with  silk  and 
linen  and  china,  and  there  was  little  room  for  such 
trifles  in  the  treasure-laden  hold.  "  I  think  her  Majesty 
will  be  satisfied  with  what  I  have  done,"  said  Drake  to 
himself,  "  and  now  we  will  make  for  home." 

The  Spaniards  were  keeping  close  watch  of  the  strait; 


32  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

but  that  did  not  trouble  Drake  in  the  least,  for  he  had 
another  plan  in  his  mind.  Mariners  believed  that  there 
was  a  northern  channel  which  led  from  the  Pacific  to 
the  Atlantic.  The  Northwest  Passage  they  called  it, 
and  Drake  meant  to  find  this  passage  and  sail  home 
through  it.  Straight  north  went  the  gold-laden  vessel. 
The  weather  grew  colder  and  colder,  and  when  he  was 
as  far  north  as  Vancouver  Island,  he  saw  that  it  was  of 
no  use  to  try  to  go  farther.  So  he  determined  to  reach 
England  by  steering  west  across  the  Pacific  and  round- 
ing the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  He  went  south  again  and 
entered  a  harbor  near  where  San  Francisco  now  stands. 
The  cliffs  were  white  like  those  of  England.  "  In  the 
name  of  Queen  Elizabeth,"  declared  Drake,  "I  claim 
this  land  for  England,  and  I  name  it  New  Albion."  He 
set  up  a  "  fair  great  post,"  and  to  the  post  he  fixed  a 
plate  of  metal  marked  with  the  date  and  the  name  of 
the  queen.  So  it  was  that  the  English  paid  their  first 
visit  to  the  western  shores  of  what  is  now  the  United 
States. 

Then  the  Golden  Hind  crossed  the  Pacific.  Drake 
fell  among  thievish  savages,  he  ran  upon  a  reef,  and  he 
was  caught  in  fearful  gales;  but  at  last  he  sailed  into 
Plymouth  Sound,  the  first  English  captain  who  had 
been  around  the  world.  His  enemies  were  waiting  for 
*'  the  pirate,"  as  they  called  him,  and  King  Philip  was 
clamoring  for  his   punishment;  but  Queen   Elizabeth 


34  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

would  not  give  up  either  Drake  or  the  treasure  that  he 
had  brought.  In  a  few  months  she  went  in  all  state  to 
dine  with  him  on  board  his  vessel.  Before  she  left,  she 
made  him  a  knight.  Thousands  of  people  visited  the 
Golden  Hind,  and  she  forbade  that  it  should  ever  be 
destroyed. 

The  queen  was  in  need  of  brave  sailors.  A  few  years 
later  Philip  prepared  a  great  fleet  to  attack  England. 
He  was  so  sure  of  victory  that  he  called  his  fleet  the 
Invincible  Armada.  Sixty  vessels  had  already  assembled 
off  Lisbon  and  Cadiz.  Here  was  a  chance  for  Drake. 
He  set  out  with  four  of  the  queen's  vessels  and  twenty- 
six  provided  by  merchants.  Every  one  was  eager  to 
have  a  share  in  the  enterprise,  for  wherever  Drake  went 
he  found  treasure.  He  sailed  straight  for  Cadiz,  and 
before  the  Spaniards  even  guessed  that  their  enemy  was 
at  hand,  he  was  burning  ships  and  destroying  stores. 
This  was  all  very  well,  but  Drake  did  not  mean  to  re- 
turn to  England  empty-handed.  He  had  heard  that  a 
Portuguese  vessel  with  a  precious  cargo  was  near  the 
Azores.  He  sailed  out  boldly,  captured  the  ship,  loaded 
his  vessel  with  a  greater  treasure  than  ever  before,  and 
went  home.  He  sent  a  gay  little  message  to  the  queen 
that  he  had  "  singed  King  Philip's  beard."  In  reality 
he  had  done  so  much  harm  to  the  Armada  that  it  could 
not  sail  for  a  whole  year. 

At  last,  however,  the  Armada  came.    The  English 


FRANCIS   DRAKE  35 

had  made  the  best  preparations  that  they  could,  and 
their  fleet  lay  off  Plymouth.  Drake  and  the  other  ad- 
mirals were  playing  bowls  on  shore  when  suddenly  a 
man  ran  among  them  so  out  of  breath  that  he  could 
only  gasp,  "  The  Spaniards,  the  Spaniards!  They  are 
off  the  coast!  "  Two  of  the  officers  started  for  their 
ships.  But  Drake  called,  "  Gentlemen,  let  us  go  on  with 
our  game :  there  will  be  time  enough  to  beat  the  Span- 
iards afterwards."  The  game  was  played  out,  and  then 
the  admirals  went  on  board  their  vessels.  The  Spaniards 
had  a  great  many  stately,  top-heavy  ships  that  they  called 
galleons ;  the  English  had  a  mongrel  fleet  made  up  of 
almost  all  the  kinds  of  craft  that  had  ever  been  built. 
If  they  had  been  willing  to  stand  still  and  be  fired  at, 
the  Spaniards  would  probably  have  beaten ;  but  a  little 
English  boat,  hardly  longer  than  a  fishing  smack,  would 
dash  up  under  the  high  guns  of  a  galleon  and  fire  a 
shot  or  two.  Then,  before  the  clumsy  Spanish  vessel 
could  turn  around,  the  English  boat  had  slipped  away 
and  was  firing  at  another  great  war-ship.  Drake  was  the 
man  of  whom  the  Spaniards  were  most  afraid.  People 
believed  in  magic  in  those  days,  and  many  a  man  whis- 
pered, "  He  has  sold  himself  to  the  devil,  and  Satan  is 
helping  him."  They  must  almost  have  thought  Drake 
to  be  Satan  himself  when  they  knew  his  next  exploit. 
The  English  sent  burning  boats  among  the  galleons. 
In  their  fright  the  Spanish  ships  cut  loose  from  their 


36  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

anchors  and  soon  were  widely  separated.  Then  was 
Drake's  time.  He  dashed  up  to  one  after  another  and 
captured  it,  and  with  twelve  of  the  great  vessels  in  tow 
went  back  to  the  fleet.  The  winds  and  waves  finished 
the  work,  and  only  sixty  of  Philip's  ships  ever  went 
back  to  Spain. 

Drake  made  another  expedition  across  the  Atlantic 
in  quest  of  treasure,  but  it  failed.  The  Spaniards  had 
learned  better  how  to  meet  "  the  dragon,"  as  they  called 
him,  and  they  hid  their  riches  more  carefully.  Sickness 
came  upon  the  little  company.  Every  day  there  were 
deaths.  At  last  Drake  himself  fell  ill  and  grew  worse 
rapidly.  The  face  of  the  surgeon  was  grave,  and  the 
men  gathered  in  groups  to  talk  of  the  suffering  admiral. 

"  There  will  never  be  another  man  like  him,"  they 
declared. 

"  No,"  said  one,  "  he  never  forgot  his  men,  and  when 
there  was  a  prize,  he  gave  us  the  generous  share." 

"  He  was  good  to  his  prisoners,  too,"  added  another. 
"  Any  other  man  would  have  killed  them,  but  he  let 
them  go  free,  and  once  he  even  gave  them  a  vessel  to 
go  home  in." 

"  He  brought  a  stream  of  fresh  water  into  Plymouth, 
and  he  and  Sir  John  gave  the  Chatham  Chest  to  help 
poor  sailors." 

"  He  never  would  let  a  church  be  burned  or  the  house 
of  any  woman  that  begged  for  mercy." 


FRANCIS   DRAKE  37 

So  the  men  talked  of  their  beloved  commander:  The 
fleet  had  anchored  near  the  little  island  of  Puerto  Bello, 
and  a  few  days  later  it  sailed  slowly  out  to  sea,  bearing 
the  leaden  coffin  in  which  were  the  remains  of  the  dead 
admiral.  Trumpets  were  blown,  cannon  were  fired,  and 
then  the  body  of  the  old  hero  was  lowered  solemnly  and 
reverently  into  the  ocean. 

OUTLINE 

The  quest  for  gold  in  America  —  the  boyhood  of  Francis  Drake 

—  he  becomes  a  sailor  —  sells  his  boat  —  his  voyage  on  the  Judith 
— loss  of  the  pearls  and  gold  —  his  appeal  to  Queen  Elizabeth  for 
payment  —  his  revenge  on  Spain  —  his  first  view  of  the  South  Sea 

—  the  queen  sends  for  him  —  he  sails  on  a  mysterious  voyage  — 
the  storm  drives  him  "  farthest  south  "  —  he  seizes  Spanish  trea- 
sure on  sea  and  on  land  —  he  pursues  the  Spitfire  —  the  quest  for 
the  Northwest  Passage  —  lands  at  "  New  Albion  "  —  crosses  the 
Pacific  —  the  queen  visits  the  Golden  Hind  —  Philip  plans  to 
attack  England  —  "  singeing  King  Philip's  beard  "  —  the  coming 
of  the  Armada  —  the  sea  fight  —  Drake's  last  voyage — his  repu- 
tation among  his  men  —  his  burial. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  day  with  Francis  Drake  in  his  boyhood. 
Drake  tells  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  behavior  of  the  Spaniards  at 
Vera  Cruz. 
Philip's  appeal  to  Queen  Elizabeth  to  punish  Drake. 
Drake  tells  his  adventures  to  his  nephew. 


.88  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

JOHN   SMITH 
THE   FATHER  OF  VIRGINIA 

DURING  the  century  following  Columbus's  first 
voyage,  the  Spanish  established  colonies  in  the 
New  World,  but  neither  the  French  nor  the  English  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  permanent  settlement.  A  few  years 
after  the  death  of  Drake,  a  company  of  Englishmen 
determined  to  settle  in  America.  One  cold  Decembei 
morning  their  three  little  vessels  sailed  down  the  Thames 
River.  "  Good-by,"  shouted  the  people  on  the  wharf. 
"  Be  sure  to  find  the  Northwest  Passage !  "  cried  one. 
"Make  the  Indians  tell  you  what  became  of  Raleigh's 
colony!"  bade  another;  and  a  third  called,  "Don't  for- 
get to  send  us  some  pearls  and  a  great  lump  of  gold ! " 
The  colonists  were  eager  to  be  off,  but  they  might  as 
well  have  stayed  at  home  a  while  longer,  for  the  wind 
was  contrary,  and  for  six  long  weeks  they  could  not  get 
out  of  sight  of  England.  At  last,  however,  they  were 
fairly  at  sea.  They  were  crowded  in  the  three  small 
vessels,  the  voyage  was  long  and  wearisome,  and  they 
had  nothing  to  do.  They  talked  a  great  deal  about  a 
certain  little  box  that  was  on  board.  King  James  liked 
to  do  the  simplest  things  with  a  great  air  of  mystery. 
So  he  had  told  them  that  the  names  of  those  who  were 
to  govern  the  colony  were  in  the  box,  but  he  had  for- 


JOHN   SMITH 


39 


bidden  it  to  be  opened  until  they  had  reached  Virginia. 

They  talked,  too,  a  great  deal  about  one  another.    Some 

of  the  idle  voyagers  had  the  absurd  notion  that  one  man 

on    board    meant    to 

murder  the  principal 

ones  among  them,  and 

make    himself    king, 

and  for  thirteen  weeks 

they  kept  him  a  close 

prisoner. 

This  man's  name 
was  John  Smith.  He 
was  only  twenty-eight 
years  old,  but  he  had 
had  many  strange  ex- 
periences. His  par- 
ents died  when  he  was 
a  boy.  No  one  seemed 
to  take  any  care  of 
him,  and  he  wandered 
away  to  France.  He  became  a  soldier,  rose  to  be 
captain,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Turks,  and  made  to 
wear  a  heavy  iron  ring  about  his  neck.  He  escaped  and 
found  his  way  again  to  England,  arriving  in  time  to 
go  to  America  with  the  colonists. 

The  ship  came  to  what  is  now  Virginia  at  the  end  of 
April,  1607,  and   \fter  many  weeks  on  the  ocean,  the 


JOHN  SMITH 
From  Smith's  map  of  Virginia  published  in  1624 


40  AMERICAN   HERO    STORIES 

country  seemed  to  the  weary  colonists  a  perfect  fairy- 
land. The  air  was  soft  and  warm.  There  were  tall  trees, 
green  hills,  rivers,  and  meadows.  There  were  straw- 
berries four  times  as  large  as  those  in  England.  There 
were  delicious  oysters;  and  to  make  it  seem  even  more 
like  fairyland,  in  some  of  the  oysters  there  were  beau- 
tiful pearls. 

Glad  as  they  were  of  both  pearls  and  oysters,  they 
did  not  forget  to  open  the  little  box.  In  it  they  found 
that  John  Smith  was  named  as  one  of  the  seven  gov- 
ernors ;  and  it  is  hard  to  see  how  Jamestown,  as  the  little 
settlement  had  been  named,  could  have  lived  without 
him.  Most  of  the  colonists  called  themselves  "  gentle- 
men;'' and  according  to  their  ideas,  gentlemen  were 
men  who  never  did  any  work,  —  the  very  worst  kind  of 
people  to  come  to  a  new  country.  The  voyage  had  been 
much  longer  than  was  expected,  and  there  was  little 
left  to  eat  but  stale  wheat  and  barley,  and  not  much  of 
that.  These  helpless  "  gentlemen  "  quarreled  like  bad- 
tempered  children.  One  declared  indignantly,  "  The 
president  would  not  give  me  a  penny  knife  that  I 
wanted."  "  And  he  would  not  give  my  son  a  spoonful 
of  beer,"  added  another.  "  I  believe  that  he  takes  the 
best  of  everything  for  himself,"  said  a  third.  There  was 
one  excuse  for  their  quarreling,  and  that  was  that  they 
were  all  suffering.  When  a  place  was  chosen  for  their 
colony,  no  one  had  stopped  to  think  whether  it  was 


JOHN   SMITH  41 

healthful  or  not,  and  they  had  settled  on  a  little  penin- 
sula extending  into  the  James  River,  because  it  could 
be  easily  protected  against  the  Indians,  and  because  the 
water  was  so  deep  that  ships  could  be  tied  to  the  trees. 
When  the  hot  sun  began  to  beat  down,  however,  the 
colonists  sickened,  and  nearly  two  thirds  of  the  whole 
number  died. 

Governor  Smith  made  journeys  up  the  rivers  with 
chisels  and  hatchets  and  copper  to  exchange  for  corn; 
and  whether  the  Indians  wanted  to  trade  or  not,  he  al- 
ways returned  with  a  boatful  of  food.  On  one  of  these 
journeys  he  was  captured  by  the  savages ;  but  instead  of 
appearing  frightened,  he  began  to  amuse  the  chief  by 
showing  him  a  pocket  compass.  A  young  brave  was  ill, 
and  Smith  said,  "  If  you  will  let  me  send  a  leaf  from  my 
notebook  to  my  friends,  I  will  tell  you  where  you  will 
find  a  bottle  of  medicine  for  him."  The  bottle  was  found 
at  the  place  that  he  named,  and  the  savages  began  to  be 
a  little  afraid  of  the  man  who  could  make  a  bit  of  paper 
talk.  "  Be  one  of  our  tribe,"  they  said,  "  and  show  us  how 
to  attack  the  fort  of  the  white  men.  You  shall  have  some 
of  our  squaws  for  wives."  Smith  did  not  agree  to  this, 
so  they  carried  him  to  their  King  Powhatan.  A  grave 
council  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  prisoner 
should  be  put  to  death.  He  was  tied  fast  and  laid  upon 
the  ground.  The  Indians  stood  over  him  with  heavy 
clubs  ready  to  strike;  but  suddenly  the   king's  little 


42  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

daughter  Pocahontas  threw  her  arms  about  him.  Among 
the  Indians,  if  a  woman  had  lost  a  relative  in  battle,  she 
was  free  to  adopt  a  prisoner  in  his  place  if  she  chose, 
and  the  Indians  must  have  been  amused  to  see  the  little 

girl  playing  the  part 
of  a  grown  woman. 
Then,  too,  there  was 
that  compass,  and  if 
they  killed  a  man  who 
owned  so  wonderful 
a  thing,  there  was  no 
knowing  what  might 
happen  to  them.  Pow- 
hatan   turned    away, 


saying, 


Let     him 


live.  He  shall  make 
hatchets  for  me  and 
copper  bells  and  beads 
for  my  daughter." 
After  Smith  had  been 
with  them  about  a 
month,  Powhatan 
said,  "  You  are  one  of 

us  now,  and  you  may  go  back  to  your  white  friends  if 

you  choose." 

Smith  went  back,  and  the  time  of  his  coming  was  a 

happy  one  in  Jamestown,  for  on  that  day  a  ship  sailed 


POCAHONTAS 

After  the  original  painting  now  in  possession  of  the 
Rolf e  family 


JOHN   SMITH  43 

in  from  England  bringing  new  colonists.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  most  of  them  were  like  the  other  "  gen- 
tlemen." They  had  no  thought  of  going  to  work,  but 
began  to  search  for  gold.  They  found  plenty  of  glitter- 
ing bits  of  mica,  and  they  discovered  some  yellow  stones 
all  bright  and  shining.  "  Hurrah  for  the  gold !  "  they 
cried,  and  they  sent  a  whole  shipload  of  the  worthless 
stuff  back  to  England. 

Now  the  company  of  merchants  and  others  who  had 
paid  the  expenses  of  carrying  the  colonists  across  the 
ocean  began  to  feel  as  if  they  ought  to  have  some  re- 
turn for  their  money.  America  was  full  of  treasures, 
they  believed,  and  they  wrote,  "  Why  do  you  not  send 
us  a  lump  of  gold  to  show  that  you  are  really  doing 
something  ?  You  seem  to  stay  around  Jamestown  all 
the  time;  why  don't  you  explore  the  country  and  find 
a  passage  to  China  ?  "  The  company  sent  a  command 
which  they  probably  thought  sure  to  win  the  friendship 
of  the  Indians.  "  Go  to  King  Powhatan,"  they  said, 
"  and  crown  him  Emperor  of  Virginia."  Half  a  dozen 
blue  beads  or  a  new  hatchet  would  have  pleased  Pow- 
hatan more  than  a  coronet;  but  the  company  must  be 
obeyed,  so  he  was  crowned.  He  was  a  little  afraid  of 
the  long  scarlet  cloak  that  they  wanted  to  lay  upon  his 
shoulders.  "  It  won't  hurt  you,"  whispered  one  of  his 
braves  who  had  been  to  England  with  the  whites;  and 
the  "  Emperor  of  Virginia "  allowed  it  to  be  thrown 


44  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

around  him.  The  volley  fired  in  his  honor  gave  him  a 
terrible  fright,  but  at  last  the  absurd  performance  was 
over.  The  "  Emperor  "  graciously  presented  the  whites 
with  his  old  blanket  to  send  to  King  James,  and  the 
colonists  went  back  to  Jamestown. 

All  this  nonsense  must  have  disgusted  Captain  Smith. 
He  said  nothing,  however,  but  set  to  work  to  get  to- 
gether as  much  tar,  pitch,  potash,  and  clapboards  as  he 
could  to  send  to  England.  He  also  sent  a  letter  to  the 
company  which  must  have  made  them  open  their  eyes. 
He  told  them  how  foolish  it  was  to  expect  colonists  to 
find  gold  mines  or  even  to  send  home  great  cargoes  of 
tar,  when  they  had  all  they  could  do  to  defend  them- 
selves and  get  something  to  eat.  "  You  sent  us  a  ship," 
he  said,  "  but  the  captain  stayed  here  so  long  that,  little 
corn  as  there  was,  we  had  to  give  him  three  hogsheads 
for  the  voyage  home.  Most  of  the  men  that  you  send  us 
are  of  no  use.  Give  us  thirty  carpenters,  gardeners, 
blacksmiths,  men  who  can  work,  rather  than  a  thousand 
of  such  as  we  have." 

There  were  other  troubles  than  the  laziness  of  the 
men,  for  the  "  Emperor  of  Virginia  "  was  not  pleased 
when  he  found  that  they  meant  to  stay,  and  he  made 
a  plan  to  destroy  the  whole  colony.  He  would  probably 
have  succeeded  if  the  child  Pocahontas  had  not  been  sc 
friendly  to  the  white  men.  One  dark  night  she  slipped 
away  from  her  home  and  ran  through  the  woods  to 


JOHN"   SMITH  45 

Jamestown.  "My  father  means  to  attack  you,"  she 
whispered,  and  then  she  hurried  away.  Powhatan  must 
have  been  amazed  when  a  few  days  later  Smith  sent 
him  a  message,  "  We  are  all  ready  for  you.  Come  when- 
ever you  choose." 

So  it  was  that  John  Smith  watched  over  the  colony. 
He  got  food  from  the  Indians  when  no  one  else  could 
succeed.  He  made  the  company  understand  that  even 
in  America  lumps  of  gold  were  not  lying  about  on  the 
banks  of  every  river.  Perhaps  his  greatest  achievement 
was  making  the  lazy  colonists  work.  They  all  expected 
to  be  served  with  rations  whether  they  helped  dig  and 
plant,  make  clapboards,  and  build  houses,  or  wandered 
about  searching  for  pearls.  When  Smith  became  presi- 
dent of  the  colony,  he  declared,  "  No  one  will  receive 
any  rations  who  does  not  labor  six  hours  a  day."  So 
the  idle  people  had  to  take  up  their  axes  and  hoes  and 
go  to  work. 

After  two  years  of  these  struggles,  while  Smith  lay 
asleep  in  his  boat  one  day,  a  bag  of  gunpowder  ex- 
ploded and  injured  him  so  severely  that  his  only  hope 
of  life  was  to  go  to  England  for  treatment.  For  several 
years  there  were  no  more  voyages  of  discovery  for 
him,  but  during  that  time  he  wrote  an  interesting  book 
about  his  life  in  Virginia.  He  never  saw  Jamestown 
again,  but  news  of  the  little  settlement  came  to  him 
over  the  sea.   The  colonists  were  in  sore  need  of  his 


46  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

good  sense,  for  they  were  in  constant  trouble.  More 
and  more  men  had  gone  to  Virginia  till  there  were  in 
all  nearly  five  hundred.  Then  came  a  terrible  winter 
when  food  could  not  be  had, —  a  winter  that  was  always 
spoken  of  as  the  "  Starving  Time."  In  the  spring  only 
sixty  colonists  were  left  alive,  and  there  would  have 
been  even  fewer  if  Pocahontas  had  not  often  contrived 
to  send  them  corn  and  meat.  No  help  came  from  Eng- 
land, and  at  last  the  little  company  of  suffering  people 
set  out  in  their  small  boats,  hoping  to  get  to  Newfound- 
land and  to  find  there  some  vessel  that  would  carry 
them  home.  They  did  not  dream  that  English  vessels 
loaded  with  provisions  were  just  off  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  Soon,  however,  they  discovered  them.  So  they 
went  back  to  Jamestown,  and  the  colony  was  saved.  A 
gentleman  named  John  Rolfe  began  to  raise  tobacco. 
His  neighbors  did  the  same;  and  after  that  there  was  no 
fear  of  starving,  for  Virginia  tobacco  always  brought  a 
good  price. 

These  were  some  of  the  bits  of  news  that  came  to 
Captain  Smith  from  the  colony  that  he  had  saved  and 
guarded;  but  one  day  he  heard  something  that  must 
have  brought  his  life  in  America  even  more  vividly 
before  him  —  the  Lady  Rebekah  was  on  her  way  to 
England.  This  Lady  Rebekah  was  the  little  Pocahon- 
tas, now  grown  to  a  tall  young  woman  and  married  to 
John  Rolf  e.  She  was  presented  at  court  and  entertained 


48  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

by  the  Bishop  of  London ;  but  she  was  not  at  all  taken 
aback  by  the  city  or  the  great  folk  whom  she  met. 
"  She  carries  herself  as  the  daughter  of  a  king,"  de- 
clared a  writer  of  the  time.  Of  course  Captain  Smith 
went  to  see  her.  He  saluted  her  most  respectfully,  but 
she  was  not  pleased  at  his  deference.  "  When  you  were 
in  Powhatan's  land,  you  called  him  father,"  she  said; 
"  and  now  that  I  am  in  your  land,  you  must  call  me  your 
child  and  let  me  call  you  father." 

Captain  Smith  had  no  idea  of  giving  up  the  business 
of  exploring,  and  after  a  while  he  made  several  trips 
to  what  is  now  New  England.  He  drew  maps  of  the 
coast,  he  caught  fish,  he  searched  for  gold  mines,  he 
bought  furs  of  the  Indians,  and  he  tried  hard  to  found 
a  colony.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in 
writing.  He  wrote  five  or  six  books  about  America,  an 
interesting  account  of  his  adventures,  and  "  A  Sea 
Grammar,"  to  teach  how  a  ship  should  be  built,  rigged, 
and  managed. 

Off  the  coast  of  New  Hampshire  is  a  little  group  of 
tiny  islands,  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  hardly  more  than  barren 
rocks.  Here  it  is  probable  that  Smith  landed,  and  on 
one  of  them  a  monument  was  long  ago  placed  in  his 
memory.  It  could  hardly  have  been  reared  in  honor 
of  a  man  who  was  a  braver  explorer,  a  more  unselfish 
colonizer,  or  a  better  friend  to  any  American  colony  in 
its  early  days  of  suffering  and  struggle. 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN  49 

OUTLINE 

English  colonists  start  for  America  —  the  long  voyage  —  idle 
talk  on  board  —  John  Smith's  early  life  —  landing  in  Virginia  — 
opening  the  mysterious  box  —  the  quarrelsome  "  gentlemen  "  — 
sickness  at  Jamestown  —  Governor  Smith  captured  by  the  Indians 
—  Pocahontas  defends  him  —  arrival  of  new  colonists  —  their 
"  gold  "  —  the  demands  of  the  company  —  crowning  Powhatan  — 
Governor  Smith's  letter  to  the  company  —  the  kindness  of  Poca- 
hontas —  Smith's  treatment  of  the  lazy  colonists  —  he  leaves  Vir- 
ginia —  the  Starving  Time  —  how  the  colony  was  saved  —  tobacco 
raising  —  Pocahontas  in  England  —  Smith's  last  years  —  his  mon- 
ument. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

The  colonists'  first  day  in  Virginia. 
Powhatan  describes  his  coronation. 

A  colonist  writes  a  letter  home  beginning,  "We  had  a  very 
hard  winter."   Finish  the  letter. 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN 

THE   FOUNDER   OF   QUEBEC 

WHILE  Spain  and  England  were  interested  in  the 
New  World,  it  was  not  forgotten  by  the  French 
explorers  and  fnr-traders.  On  one  of  the  fur-trading 
expeditions  a  young  man  named  Samuel  de  Champlain 
was  sent  by  the  French  king  to  see  as  much  of  the 
country  about  the  St.  Lawrence  as  he  could  and  write  a 
journal  about  his  expedition. 


50 


AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 


When  he  came  home,  he  published  his  journal.  The 
French  began  to  say,  "  The  Spanish  have  a  i  New 
Spain '  in  America ;  why  should  we  not  have  a  '  New 
France '  ?  "    Before  long  three  ships  sailed  away,  not 

only  to  trade,  but  to  make 
a  settlement.  Champlain 
was  one  of  the  leaders. 
They  chose  for  their  colony 
a  little  island  at  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Croix  Kiver.  "It 
is  sure  to  be  warm  and  plea- 
sant here,"  they  thought, 
"  for  it  is  no  farther  north 
than  the  southern  part  of 
our  own  France." 
They  set  to  work  to  build  houses  for  themselves. 
They  mounted  their  cannon  and  laid  out  little  flower 
gardens.  Champlain  took  great  pains  to  water  his 
flowers,  but  the  sun  was  so  hot  that  it  scorched  them. 
The  mosquitoes  bit  savagely,  and  the  men  had  to  work 
with  all  their  might;  but  they  were  happy,  and  when 
the  ship  returned  to  France,  they  bade  her  a  cheerful 
farewell.  They  had  no  idea  what  was  before  them;  but 
soon  the  wind  grew  bitterly  cold,  the  water  froze,  the 
ground  froze,  even  the  cider  froze  and  was  served  in 
chunks  and  splinters.  Wood  was  scarce,  for  masses  of  ice 
barred  the  river  and  shut  them  from  the  forests  of  the 


CHAMPLAIN 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN  51 

mainland.  Half  of  the  company  died.  "  Oh,  if  the  ship 
would  only  come  again !  "  they  groaned.  At  last  the 
ship  came.  "We  will  not  stay  here  another  winter," 
the  colonists  declared,  and  Champlain  set  out  to  find  a 
better  place  for  their  settlement. 

After  a  long  search,  he  finally  chose  a  place  in  Nova 
Scotia  near  where  Annapolis  now  stands.  Then  there 
was  a  moving  day  indeed,  for  they  moved  not  only  their 
clothes  and  axes  and  kettles  and  cannon,  but  even  the 
houses,  —  at  least  those  that  could  be  taken  apart  easily 
and  put  on  board  the  ship.  They  were  full  of  courage 
when  they  landed.  "Look  at  that  range  of  hills!"  they 
cried.  "lo  cold  winds  will  blow  through  those.  We 
will  build  tighter  houses,  too,  and  make  sure  of  having 
wood  enough." 

Food  was  plenty,  and  good  times  were  plenty,  for  fif- 
teen of  the  principal  men  formed  a  society  which  they 
named  "  The  Order  of  Mirth."  They  took  turns  in  being 
Grand  Master,  and  the  one  who  held  the  office  for  the 
day  must  provide  for  the  table.  He  might  hunt  or  fish 
or  buy  of  the  Indians,  but  in  some  way  he  must  secure 
a  dinner.  "When  dinner  time  came,  the  little  procession 
marched  into  the  dining  room.  The  Grand  Master  led 
the  way.  A  napkin  was  thrown  over  his  shoulder,  and 
an  ornamented  collar,  the  badge  of  the  order,  was 
around  his  neck.  The  other  men  followed,  each  one 
carrying  his  plate.    The  Indians  sat  about  on  the  floor, 


52  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

waiting  for  their  share  of  the  feast,  and  gazing  with 
grave  amusement  at  the  strange  pranks  of  their  white 
friends. 

So  the  time  passed  and  spring  came.  The  colonists 
had  a  water-mill,  and  they  were  making  and  burning 
brick.  Champlain  had  laid  out  his  garden  as  usual,  and 
they  were  ready  for  a  busy  and  happy  summer.  They 
never  dreamed  that  a  ship  was  on  the  ocean  with  a  letter 
that  said  they  must  come  home,  because  the  people  who 
sent  out  the  colony  could  not  support  it  any  longer. 

Every  one  was  filled  with  regret.  "  The  hardest  time 
was  over,"  they  said  gloomily.  "  We  had  just  found  out 
how  to  live  here."  "  I  '11  come  back  and  make  my  home 
in  this  place,"  declared  one,  "  if  I  have  to  come  alone 
with  my  wife  and  the  children." 

Champlain  was  sadly  disappointed  at  having  to  leave 
Nova  Scotia,  but  he  packed  up  his  journal  and  the  maps 
and  sea  charts  that  he  had  made  and  began  to  think 
what  to  do  next.  A  place  that  he  had  seen  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  kept  coming  before  his  mind.  "  The  river  is 
narrow  there,"  he  said  to  himself.  "  That  high  hill  could 
be  easily  fortified,  and  the  little  stream  that  flows  dowm 
beside  it  on  the  north  would  help  to  defend  it.  The 
Indians  are  friendly  and  will  listen  to  us  when  we  tell 
them  of  the  Christian  faith.  '  Kebec,'  as  they  call  it,  is 
the  very  place  for  a  fur  station  and  for  a  colony." 

He  had  no  money  to  send  out  ships,  so  he  appealed 


SAMUEL  JDE   CHAMPLAIN 


53 


for  help  to  a  wealthy  nobleman  in  Paris.  This  noble- 
man read  Champlain's  journal,  and  pored  over  its  maps 
and  pictures.  At  last  he  said,  "  I  '11  found  a  colony  at 
Kebec,  provided  you  will  be  its  governor."  So  in  the 
summer  of  1608,  one  year  after  the  settlement  of  James- 
town, a  shipload  of  eager  French  colonists  landed  on 
the  flats  in  the  shadow  of  the  towering  cliff  of  Kebec, 
or  Quebec,  as  they  spelled  it. 

There  was  enough  for  every  one  to  do,  and  they  set  to 
work  to  clear  the  ground  and  build  their  houses.    Cham- 
plain  kept  a  journal  of  course,  and  in  it  he  drew  a  pic- 
ture of  the  cluster  of  build- 
ings.   It  must  have  looked 
quite  like  some  old  castle ; 
for  there  was  a  moat  and 
a    drawbridge,    platforms 
for  the   cannon,   a   store- 
house, a  forge,  and  three 
houses,  each   two  stories 
high.    Nor  did  Champlain 
forget  his  flower  garden. 
He  liked  birds  as  well  as 

flowers,  and  he  had  a  dovecote  that  looks  in  the  picture 
half  as  large  as  one  of  the  houses. 

The  winter  was  long  and  cold.  Sickness  came  upon 
the  colonists  and  many  died.  It  was  an  even  harder 
winter  for  the  Indians,  and  they  often   came  to   the 


CHAMPLAIN'S  DRAWING  OF  QUEBEC 

IN  1613 


54  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

fort  to  beg  the  kind-hearted  governor  for  food.  These 
Indians  were  Algonquins,  and  to  the  south  of  them,  in 
what  is  now  New  York,  were  the  Iroquois,  their  bitter 
enemies.  "We  shall  go  on  the  warpath  after  the  winter 
is  over,"  the  Algonquins  told  Champlain,  and  they  looked 
longingly  at  the  "fire-sticks"  of  the  Frenchmen.  Then 
said  Champlain,  "  I  want  to  see  the  country  to  the  south- 
ward. If  you  will  guide  me,  I  will  help  you  against  the 
Iroquois."  The  Algonquins  were  overjoyed.  "  The 
great  governor  is  going  to  kill  the  Iroquois  with  his 
fire-sticks,"  they  said. 

When  spring  came,  a  party  of  Indians,  together  with 
Champlain  and  two  other  Frenchmen,  paddled  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Richelieu  rivers  and  down  the 
lake  which  was  afterwards  named  for  Champlain.  Every 
day  brought  them  nearer  the  Iroquois,  and  at  last  they 
saw  the  canoes  of  their  enemies.  "  Go  home  and  plant 
corn!"  shouted  the  Iroquois.    "You  can't  fight!" 

"  We  '11  go  home  and  take  you  with  us ! "  retorted 
the  Algonquins. 

Both  parties  made  ready  for  battle.  In  the  morning 
the  Algonquins  dashed  forward.  Then  came  the  great 
surprise  of  the  day,  for  Champlain  fired  his  gun.  Two 
of  the  Iroquois  fell.  The  others  stood  for  a  moment 
motionless.  A  second  Frenchman  fired,  and  the  Iroquois 
ran  a.s  if  the  witches  were  after  them.  This  little  fight 
in  the  wilderness  was  really  an  important  action,  for 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN  55 

from  that  day  the  fierce  Iroquois  were  bitter  enemies 
of  the  French. 

Champlain  made  several  journeys  to  France.  On  one 
of  these  he  was  married  to  a  child  of  twelve.  Little 
Helene  was  left  there  in  school  for  a  few  years,  while 
her  explorer  husband  went  back  to  his  colony  over  the 
seas.  He  did  not  forget  his  child  wife,  however,  and 
he  gave  her  name  to  an  island  in  the  river. 

On  Champlain's  first  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  the 
Indians  had  told  him  of  a  salt  sea  to  the  northward.  He 
longed  to  go  in  search  of  it,  and  now  he  had  good  reason 
to  think  that  he  could  find  it.  A  young  man  who  had 
spent  the  winter  among  the  Indians  returned  to  Paris 
and  declared  that  he  had  been  up  the  Ottawa  River, 
and  near  its  head  had  found  a  sea  of  salt  water.  Every 
one  was  interested,  for  this  was  thought  to  be  surely  the 
Northwest  Passage.  Champlain  and  the  young  man 
went  back  to  Quebec  and  set  out  to  find  the  way  to 
India.  They  went  up  the  Ottawa  River  to  Allumette 
Island,  and  Champlain  said  to  the  Indians,  "  This  young 
man  says  he  went  north  last  winter  to  the  great  salt  sea. 
Will  you  give  me  guides  so  I  can  go  to  it  ?  " 

The  chief  looked  sternly  at  the  young  man  and  de- 
manded, "  Did  you  go  to  the  great  salt  sea  last  winter  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  replied  f alteringly. 

The  chief  turned  his  back  upon  him.  "  The  fellow  is 
a  great  liar,"  he  said  to  Champlain.    "He  was  with  us  all 


56  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

winter.  He  slept  in  that  wigwam  every  night.  Give  him 
to  us  and  we  will  see  to  it  that  he  does  not  tell  any  more 
lies." 

Then  the  young  man  confessed  that  he  had  made  up 
the  whole  story  to  win  attention  in  Paris,  and  that  he 
had  not  dreamed  of  Champlain's  trying  to  make  the 
journey.  "  If  you  will  only  pardon  me,"  he  pleaded,  "  I 
will  go  north  next  summer  till  I  find  whether  there  is 
a  sea  or  not."  And  Champlain,  disappointed  as  he  was, 
pardoned  him. 

So  the  life  of  the  governor  of  Quebec  went  on.  He 
explored;  he  helped  the  Algonquins  in  their  raids  against 
the  Iroquois,  spending  one  whole  winter  among  them; 
he  established  a  fur  station  at  Montreal ;  and  he  carried 
out  a  plan  that  was  very  dear  to  him  of  bringing  over 
from  France  four  missionaries  to  tell  the  Indians  of  the 
Christian  faith.  They  had  a  good  helper  in  the  wife  of 
Champlain.  In  the  years  when  her  explorer  husband 
was  going  back  and  forth  between  France  and  America, 
the  little  Helene  had  grown  up,  and  when  she  was  twenty- 
two  she  came  to  Quebec.  "  A  brave  girl,"  her  brother 
called  her  when  he  met  her  at  the  wharf.  She  was  much 
interested  in  the  shy  little  Indian  children,  and  set  to 
work  at  once  to  learn  their  language  so  as  to  talk  with 
them  and  teach  them.  They  were  soon  her  devoted 
friends,  and  the  braves  and  squaws  almost  worshiped 
her. 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN  57 

There  were  many  hard  years  for  the  colony  on  the 
rock,  but  at  last  a  summer  came  when  all  things  pro- 
mised well.  Champlain  was  making  ready  to  welcome 
the  ships  from  France  with  supplies  for  the  winter ;  but 
France  and  England 
were  at  war,  and  sud- 
denly six  English  ves- 
sels appeared  off  Que- 
bec. The  commander 
sent  a  polite  note  to  the 
governor,  demanding 
the  surrender  of  the 
place.  Champlain  in  his 
reply  signed  himself 
"Your  affectionate  ser- 
vant," just  as  the  Eng- 
lish commander  had 
done,  but  he  boldly  re- 
fused to  surrender.  The 
Englishman  did  not 
know  that  the  company  had  not  kept  the  fortifications 
in  repair,  and  that  food  was  so  scanty  that  the  men  were 
allowed  only  seven  ounces  of  dried  peas  a  day.  He 
sailed  away  from  Quebec,  but  he  captured  the  supply 
ships  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  so  no  food  came  to  the 
colony  all  that  long  winter.  They  divided  the  peas  by 
count;  they  bought  all  the  moose  meat  that  the  Indians 


THE  TAKING  OF   QUEBEC 

From  an  engraving  of  1698 


58  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

would  spare ;  they  fished  as  much  as  their  few  lines  and 
hooks  would  permit;  and  they  ate  every  kind  of  root 
that  was  fit  for  food. 

When  even  the  roots  seemed  to  be  giving  out,  Eng- 
lish war-ships  appeared  again  and  demanded  surrender; 
and  Champ] ain,  brave  old  soldier  as  he  was,  was  forced 
to  give  up  without  firing  a  gun.  He  had  to  leave  Que- 
bec ;  but  when  the  treaty  between  the  two  countries  was 
signed,  Canada  was  given  back  to  France,  and  he  was 
again  made  governor.  One  morning  in  May,  the  people 
in  Quebec  were  aroused  at  sunrise  by  the  firing  of 
cannon.  They  were  in  a  great  fright;  but  it  did  not  last 
long,  for  soon  their  beloved  governor  stepped  ashore. 
Up  the  hill  to  the  fortress  he  went,  escorted  by  a  com- 
pany of  French  soldiers.  Flags  waved,  drums  beat,  and 
cheer  followed  cheer,  for  Champlain  had  come  again  to 
the  people  who  loved  him  so  well.  Far  back  into  the 
forests  the  word  went  swiftly  from  one  tribe  of  red  men 
to  another  that  the  governor  had  come,  and  hundreds 
of  them  hastened  to  Quebec  to  welcome  him.  For  three 
years  longer  he  worked  and  planned  for  the  land  that 
he  loved;  and  when  the  end  came,  he  died  in  the  fort 
on  the  rock,  a  brave  explorer,  a  wise  governor,  a  true 
friend  and  helper  of  every  one  around  him. 


MILES   STANDISH  59 

OUTLINE 

Champlain  and  his  journal  of  the  St.  Lawrence  voyage  —  the 
French  colony  at  the  St.  Croix  —  moving  to  Nova  Scotia  —  "  the 
Order  of  Mirth  "  —  the  colonists  return  to  France  —  Champlain 
plans  a  colony  at  Quebec  —  the  new  settlement  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence —  the  first  winter  in  Quebec  —  Champlain's  agreement  with 
the  Algonquins —  the  expedition  against  the  Iroquois  —  Cham- 
plain's  marriage  —  his  search  for  the  Northwest  Passage  —  mis- 
sion work  —  the  coming  of  the  English  vessels  —  hard  times  in 
Quebec  —  the  surrender  of  the  colony  —  Champlain's  return  to 
Quebec. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN   WORK 

A  letter  from  the  St.  Croix  settlement. 

"  Helene  "  tells  what  she  saw  when  she  reached  Quebec. 

Champlain  describes  his  return  to  Quebec. 


MILES  STATsTDISH 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF   OF   THE  PILGRIMS 

ONE  cold  winter  day,  thirteen  years  after  the  found- 
ing of  Jamestown,  a  ship  was  tossing  about  in  the 
wild  breakers  off  the  coast  of  Cape  Cod.  It  had  been 
on  the  ocean  for  more  than  two  months,  much  of  the 
time  in  gales  and  tempests.  Once  the  sailors  had  rebelled 
and  declared  that  it  must  return  to  England.  "We 
won't  risk  our  lives  in  the  shattered  old  hulk,"  they  said; 
but  the  leaky  seams  were  calked  as  best  they  could  be 


60  AMERICAN   HERO.  STORIES 

and  the  vessel  sailed  on.  The  passengers  had  expected 
to  go  farther  south,  but  the  storms  had  driven  them  far 
out  of  their  course,  and  they  saw  that  the  best  thing  to 
do  was  to  get  inside  the  point  of  Cape  Cod  for  shelter. 


THE  DEPARTURE  OP  THE  PILGRIMS 
From  a  painting  by  C.  W.  Cope 

These  people  had  not  come  to  America  to  find  lumps 
of  gold  or  to  search  for  the  Northwest  Passage;  they 
had  come,  men,  women,  and  children,  to  make  them- 
selves homes  in  the  New  World.  In  England,  as  in 
most  other  places  at  that  time  except  Holland,  people 
were  obliged  by  law  to  attend  the  same  church  as  the 


MILES   STANDISH  61 

king;  and  if  they  did  not,  they  were  fined  or  imprisoned 
or  sometimes  put  to  death.  And  yet,  when  they  wanted 
to  leave  the  kingdom,  King  James  forbade  their  going ! 
A  little  company,  however,  succeeded  in  escaping  to 
Holland.  They  lived  there  for  twelve  years;  but  they 
were  English,  and  badly  as  their  country  had  treated 
them,  they  loved  it.  They  could  not  bear  to  have  their 
children  speak  Dutch  and  grow  up  Dutch  rather  than 
English.  So  they  concluded  to  go  to  America,  where  they 
could  worship  God  as  they  thought  would  be  pleasing  to 
Him  and  bring  up  their  boys  and  girls  to  be  English  men 
and  women.  King  James  would  not  give  them  a  char- 
ter, a  parchment  saying  that  they  had  a  right  to  settle 
in  America;  but  he  said  rather  grudgingly  that  they 
might  go  if  they  wished,  and  so  long  as  they  "  carried 
themselves  peaceably,"  he  would  not  molest  them. 

Only  a  very  hard-hearted  ruler  would  have  troubled 
these  honest,  earnest  people,  for  they  certainly  had 
enough  to  bear.  They  had  come  in  the  middle  of  the 
winter  to  a  wild  country,  full  of  unknown  dangers.  It 
was  bitterly  cold.  Icy  rain  and  show  and  sleet  fell  upon 
them  as  if  trying  to  drive  them  from  the  land.  Food 
was  none  too  plenty,  and  the  captain  was  saying, "  What- 
ever happens,  I  shall  keep  enough  for  my  crew  on  the 
way  back."  The  sailors  muttered,  "  If  they  don't  get  a 
place  soon,  we  '11  drop  them  and  their  goods  on  the 
shore  and  leave  them." 


62  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  search  for  a  place  at 
once,  and  a  company  of  explorers  set  out.  The  one  and 
only  soldier  among  them  was  made  the  leader.  His  name 
was  Miles  Stan  dish.  They  were  put  ashore  near  the 
end  of  Cape  Cod;  and,  waving  a  farewell  to  their 
friends  on  board  the  Mayflower,  started  off  boldly  on 
their  exploring  trip.  After  going  a  mile  or  two,  they 
saw  five  or  six  Indians  and  a  dog.  They  were  glad,  for 
they  hoped  to  make  friends  with  them ;  but  the  Indians 
whistled  to  the  dog  and  ran  into  the  woods.  The  next 
interesting  sight  was  some  heaps  of  earth  that  had  evi- 
dently just  been  piled  up,  for  they  could  see  the  marks 
of  fingers  where  the  Indians  had  patted  and  smoothed 
the  sides.  Within  these  mounds  were  big  baskets  of 
corn.  They  had  never  seen  Indian  corn  before,  but 
they  knew  it  must  be  some  kind  of  grain  and  good 
to  eat.  "Shall  we  take  it?"  they  questioned.  Finally 
they  decided  to  carry  it  home,  and,  when  they  met  the 
Indians,  to  pay  them  well  for  it.  They  saw  rivers  and 
ponds  and  deer  and  geese.  They  saw,  too,  a  trap  that 
had  been  set  for  deer;  and  before  he  knew  it,  one  of 
the  gallant  explorers  was  caught  by  the  leg  and  tossed 
up  into  the  air. 

Again  and  again  the  colonists  searched  for  a  good 
place  to  make  their  home ;  but  when  they  returned  to 
the  Mayflower  and  their  friends  called,  "  Have  you 
found  it  yet  ? "  they  could  only  say,  "  Not  yet."   At 


THE  PILGRIMS  ON  THE  MAYFLOWER 

From  the  painting  by  Henry  Oliver  Walker  in  the  State  House  at  Boston 


64  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

last  there  came  a  day  when  they  replied,  "  We  have 
found  a  place  where  the  soil  seems  better  than  any  we 
have  seen  before.  It  is  marked  '  Plymouth '  on  John 
Smith's  map.  There  is  clay  for  bricks,  good  sand  for 
mortar,  and  stone  for  wells  and  chimneys." 

"  Is  there  any  river  ?  " 

" ]Sot  large  enough  for  boats,  but  there  are  several 
streams  of  good  clear  water." 

"  Did  you  see  any  Indians  ?  " 

"  No,  but  we  saw  clearings  that  looked  as  if  they  had 
planted  corn  there  three  or  four  years  ago.  The  land 
rises  from  the  water  to  a  high  hill.  We  climbed  to  the 
top,  and  we  could  see  a  long  way  over  the  country. 
That  hill  would  be  just  the  place  to  mount  our  cannon. 
There  is  a  spring  of  good  water  on  the  hillside,  and  we 
can  put  our  houses  near  it." 

There  was  no  question  that  this  was  the  best  site  they 
had  found,  and  very  soon  a  boat  left  the  Mayflower, 
landed  its  passengers  on  a  great  rock  at  the  water's 
edge,  and  went  back  for  another  load.  There  were  no 
idlers  at  Plymouth ;  as  soon  as  a  man  was  set  ashore,  he 
went  to  work.  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  build  a  log 
house  large  enough  to  hold  their  goods  and  to  shelter  the 
women  and  children  from  the  rain — and  those  first  weeks 
it  seemed  to  rain  most  of  the  time.  The  women,  too, 
were  hard  at  work,  cooking  at  camp-fires ;  and  even  the 
little  children  ran  about  and  gathered  twigs  for  the  fires. 


MILES   STANDISH  65 

The  Pilgrims,  as  they  were  called  from  their  wander- 
ings, had  heard  frightful  stories  of  the  fierceness  of 
the  Indians,  but  there  were  other  troubles  than  fear 
of  savages.  Food  was  scanty  and  sickness  came  upon 
them.  They  had  been  in  Plymouth  only  a  month  when 
Rose  Stand ish,  wife  of  the  captain,  died.  He  himself 
was  well;  and  he  went  about  from  one  bed  to  another, 
doing  everything  that  he  could  to  help  the  sick  and 
suffering.  At  last  the  spring  came,  but  half  of  the 
whole  number  were  dead.  The  Indians  did  not  molest 
the  white  men,  but  it  was  plain  that  they  were  watching 
closely.  "  How  many  camp-fires  did  you  see  last  night  ?  " 
the  settlers  would  ask  those  whose  turn  it  had  been  to 
keep  guard.  The  number  grew  larger  night  by  night. 
The  men  worked  as  fast  as  they  could  to  get  their  log 
huts  done,  so  they  could  have  some  little  protection,  for 
they  were  afraid  that  the  savages  meant  to  unite  and 
come  in  large  numbers  to  attack  them.  They  did  not 
dare  to  raise  mounds  over  the  graves  of  those  that  died 
lest  the  Indians  should  count  them  and  see  how  few 
were  left.  Sometimes  in  the  darkness  they  could  hear 
the  yells  of  the  savages.  One  day  Miles  Standish  and 
another  man  left  their  axes  in  the  woods  while  they 
went  home  to  dinner;  and  when  they  returned,  they 
found  that  the  Indians  had  stolen  them. 

The  colonists  met  to  decide  who  should  be  their 
leader  if  the  Indians  should  make  an  attack.    There  was 


66  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

not  much  question  about  it  with  one  brave,  well-trained 
soldier  among  them.  Of  course  they  chose  Miles  Stand- 
ish,  and  they  all  agreed  to  obey  his  orders.  While  they 
were  talking,  one  of  the  men  said  softly,  "  Look  —  over 
on  that  hill!  "  There  stood  two  Indians  beckoning,  and 
Captain  Standish  and  one  other  man  went  out  boldly, 
hoping  to  make  friends  with  them.  They  carried  only 
one  musket,  and  soon  they  laid  that  down  to  show  that 
they  were  not  enemies;  but  the  two  red  men  ran  away. 
As  the  colonists  stood  and  listened,  they  could  hear  the 
sound  of  many  Indians  running  through  the  woods,  but 
not  one  was  to  be  seen.  "  The  cannon  must  be  mounted 
at  once,"  declared  the  captain.  So  the  three  cannon 
were  dragged  to  the  top  of  the  hill. 

The  next  Indian  they  saw,  however,  was  not  in  the 
least  afraid  of  them  or  their  cannon.  He  walked  boldly 
along  close  to  the  little  houses ;  and  when  the  men  stood 
before  him  with  their  guns,  he  did  not  turn  back,  but 
said  cordially,  "  Welcome,  Englishmen,  welcome  !  "  He 
told  them  that  his  name  was  Samoset,  that  he  had  been 
near  Monhegan  Island  and  had  learned  a  little  English 
from  the  fishermen  who  went  there.  He  was  ready  to 
tell  all  that  he  knew,  and  he  knew  many  things  that  the 
colonists  wanted  to  hear.  He  said  that  some  of  the  In- 
dians were  angry  with  the  English  because  an  English 
captain  had  captured  twenty-seven  of  their  tribe  and 
carried  them  away  to  Spain  to  sell  as  slaves.    He  talked 


MILES   STANDISH  67 

all  the  afternoon  except  when  he  was  eating,  —  no  small 
part  of  the  time.  At  dusk  the  English  tried  to  say  fare- 
well to  him,  but  he  said  he  was  willing  to  stay  all  night. 
So  they  made  him  a  bed;  but  they  kept  watch  of  him, 
for  no  one  knew  but  he  might  be  a  spy.  In  the  morning 
he  said,  "  Good-by;  I  am  going  to  visit  Massasoit,  the 
chief  of  the  Wampanoags."  And  he  went  away  happy 
with  a  knife,  a  bracelet,  and  a  ring. 

It  was  not  long  before  Samoset  came  again;  and  this 
time  he  brought  a  friend,  Squanto,  one  of  the  very 
men  who  had  been  carried  off  by  the  English  cap- 
tain. A  kind-hearted  Englishman  had  rescued  him  and 
sent  him  home.  Squanto  could  talk  English  very  well. 
After  a  little  while  he  said,  "Massasoit,  chief  of  the 
Wampanoags,  and  sixty  braves  are  coming  to  see  you." 
And  even  while  they  were  talking,  Massasoit  and  his 
warriors  came  marching  across  the  crest  of  a  hill  to  the 
south  of  the  settlement.  "  They  cannot  come  into  the 
village,"  declared  Captain  Standish.  Squanto  went  back 
and  forth  with  messages,  and  it  was  decided  that 
Massasoit  and  twenty  braves,  unarmed,  might  enter.  To 
show  the  chieftain  due  honor,  a  drum  was  beaten,  a 
trumpet  was  blown,  and  six  muskets  were  fired.  After 
a  long  talk,  Massasoit  and  the  whites  agreed  to  be 
friends  and  to  help  each  other  in  war  if  there  should  be 
need. 

It  seemed  as  if  need  would  soon  come,  for  one  day  a 


68  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

strange  Indian  strode  into  the  little  village,  bringing 
a  bundle  of  arrows  wrapped  in  a  rattlesnake's  skin. 
Squanto  explained  that  Canonicus,  King  of  the  ^Narra- 
gansetts,  was  angry  because  they  had  made  friends  with 
his  enemy  Massasoit  and  that  the  arrows  meant  war. 
"  If  he  will  have  war,  let  him !  "  cried  the  captain ;  and 
he  stuffed  the  snakeskin  with  bullets  and  powder.  "  Tell 
Canonicus,"  the  settlers  bade  their  messenger, "  that  we 
do  not  wish  to  fight,  but  if  he  does,  we  are  ready  for 
him."  Canonicus  was  a  badly  frightened  Indian  when  he 
saw  the  snakeskin.  It  seemed  that  Squanto  had  wished 
to  give  the  impression  that  his  English  friends  were  all- 
powerful,  and  he  had  declared  that  they  kept  the  plague 
in  a  box  to  let  it  loose  when  they  chose.  The  chief  was 
afraid  it  had  come. 

But  Canonicus's  fright  might  not  last  long,  so  the 
captain  decided  that  it  was  best  to  make  the  village 
stronger.  They  built  a  close  high  fence,  or  palisade,  of 
stout  posts  around  the  group  of  houses,  and  the  cap- 
tain reviewed  his  little  army  of  forty-eight  men  and 
appointed  an  officer  for  every  twelve.  They  built  a 
strong  fort  with  a  heavy  flat  roof  on  the  top  of  the  hill. 
This  building  was  church  as  well  as  fort.  When  Sun- 
day morning  came,  the  drum  was  beaten,  and  the  men 
assembled  before  the  captain's  door,  muskets  in  hand. 
They  took  their  places  three  abreast.  The  last  in  the 
line  was  the  governor,  tall  and  dignified  in  his  long 


MILES   STANDISH  69 

black  robe.  On  his  right  hand  the  minister  walked, 
and  on  his  left  strode  Captain  Standish.  Behind  them 
came  the  women  and  children.  In  this  order  they 
marched  into  the  fort  and  seated  themselves,  each  man 
with  his  musket  beside  him.    Over  their  heads,  on  the 


PILGRIMS   GOING  TO  CHURCH 
From  a  painting  by  G.  H.  Bough  ton 

thick  flat  roof,  the  cannon  were  mounted ;  and  so  they 
were  ready  either  to  listen  to  the  sermon  or  to  fight  the 
Indians  if  an  attack  was  made. 

The  colonists  had  to  be  on  their  guard  all  the  time; 
but  although  there  had  been  many  alarms,  there  had 
been  no  fighting  since  they  had  landed  at  Plymouth. 
The  Indians  knew  that  their  only  hope  of  getting  the 
better  of  the  whites  was  by  surprising  them,  and  they 
never   could  surprise  the  captain,  for  he  was   always 


70  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

ready  for  an  attack.  He  showed  them  that  he  wished 
to  be  friendly,  bnt  that  he  would  not  be  imposed  upon; 
and  once  when  a  sachem,  or  under-chief,  had  seized 
Squanto,  he  had  set  out  in  the  night  with  but  ten  men, 
dashed  into  the  large  wigwam;  and  demanded  either  his 
friend  Squanto  or  the  sachem  who  had  murdered  him. 
The  story  of  his  courage  went  from  one  tribe  to  an- 
other, and  many  sachems  sent  messengers  to  ask  for  the 
friendship  of  the  whites. 

The  Pilgrims  were  so  fair  and  just  to  the  Indians 
that  they  would  perhaps  have  had  little  trouble  with 
them,  had  it  not  been  for  some  new  companies  of  colo- 
nists that  came  from  England  and  settled  near  them. 
Many  of  these  newcomers  were  dishonest.  They  cheated 
and  abused  the  Indians  shamefully.  "  We  will  kill  them 
all,"  said  the  red  men. 

"  But  the  little  captain  at  Plymouth,"  objected  one, 
"  he  and  his  men  will  avenge  them." 

"  "We  will  kill  him  and  his  friends  at  Plymouth,  too," 
declared  the  plotters. 

The  Pilgrims  heard  of  this,  and  they  said,  "  We  must 
fight."  Then  Captain  Stan  dish  and  eight  men  set  out 
for  the  new  settlement.  Soon  four  Indians  came  boldly 
up  to  the  house  where  he  and  four  other  Englishmen 
were  waiting.  "  We  are  not  afraid  of  your  little  captain," 
cried  the  red  men.  "  He  thinks  he  can  kill  us,  but  let 
him  try."   They  pushed  into  the  house,  and  the  other  In- 


MILES   STANDISH  71 

dians  crowded  around  it.  "  Go  and  live  with  the  women, 
little  captain,"  they  called,  "  you  are  no  fighter !  "  One 
of  them  began  to  whet  his  knife.  "  My  knife  eats,  it  does 
not  speak,"  he  said.  Then  the  "  little  captain,"  as  strong 
and  wiry  as  he  was  slender,  sprang  upon  the  tall  savage, 
caught  his  knife  away  from  him,  and  killed  him  with  his 
own  weapon.  Two  of  the  others  were  also  killed,  and 
one  carried  away  as  prisoner.  This  was  the  first  time 
that  an  Indian  had  been  slain  by  the  Pilgrims.  It  was 
the  custom  in  England  then  to  put  the  heads  of  crimi- 
nals on  posts  in  some  public  place  to  serve  as  a  warning 
to  all  who  passed  by;  so  the  head  of  the  Indian  leader 
was  put  up  on  the  fort. 

As  the  years  passed,  many  other  colonists  came  to 
Plymouth.  More  land  was  needed,  and  some  of  the 
settlers  moved  to  places  near  by  where  they  found  fer- 
tile ground.  Captain  Standish  and  the  minister,  Elder 
Brewster,  made  homes  for  themselves  nine  miles  to  the 
north  of  Plymouth.  The  home  of  the  captain's  ances- 
tors in  England  was  called  Duxbury,  and  this  name  was 
given  to  his  new  abode  across  the  bay.  There  the  two 
friends  cut  down  the  trees,  and  cleared  fields  for  plow- 
ing. Whenever  there  was  any  trouble,  however,  the 
Pilgrims  always  sent  for  the  captain,  and  he  was  ready 
for  whatever  must  be  done. 

Once  he  had  to  leave  his  peaceful  home  to  fight  with 
the  Pequots  of  Connecticut.    These  Pequots,  the  fiercest 


72  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

warriors  of  the  wilderness,  were  determined  to  destroy 
the  whites.  They  began  by  hanging  around  the  settle- 
ments, and  often  when  a  few  men  went  out  to  work  in 
the  woods  or  the  fields,  these  savages  would  seize  them 
and  put  them  to  death  with  most  fearful  tortures.  The 
colonies  decided  to  unite  and  strike  one  blow  that  should 
end  such  deeds.  Plymouth  sent  fifty  soldiers,  and  of 
course  Captain  Standish  was  called  upon  to  lead  them. 
The  Pequots  had  built  a  strong  palisade  around  their 
houses;  but  the  English  came  upon  them  in  the  dark, 
got  possession  of  the  two  entrances,  and  set  fire  to  the 
fort.  Nearly  all  the  Pequots  perished.  It  was  a  dread- 
ful scene,  but  it  freed  the  settlers  from  all  trouble  with 
the  Indians  for  forty  years. 

The  last  days  of  Miles  Standish  passed  quietly  and 
happily.  It  was  not  at  all  lonely  at  his  house  on  "  Cap- 
tain's Hill,"  for  he  had  married  a  second  time,  and  he  had 
four  sons  and  a  daughter.  Besides  Elder  Brewster,  John 
Alden  and  others  of  his  friends  made  their  homes  near 
him.  Among  them  was  his  faithful  Indian  friend,  Hob- 
bomak,  who  built  himself  a  wigwam  near  the  house  of 
his  captain.  When  he  grew  old  and  feeble,  the  stern 
fighter  of  the  red  men  took  the  red  man  to  his  own 
house,  and  cared  for  him  tenderly  to  the  end  of  his 
life. 


PETER   STUYVESANT  73 

OUTLINE 

The  hard  voyage  of  the  colonists  —  why  they  had  come  to  Amer- 
ica—  their  troubles  on  reaching  land — searching  for  a  home  — 
Plymouth  —  landing  at  Plymouth  —  hunger  and  sickness  —  fear 
of  the  Indians  —  choosing  a  captain  —  going  to  meet  the  Indians 

—  the  coming  of  Samoset  —  what  he  told  the  white  men  — 
Squanto  —  the  visit  of  Massasoit  —  the  message  of  Canonicus  — 
the  settlers'  reply  —  Canonicus's  fright  —  the  settlers  prepare  for 
war  —  going  to  church  —  why  the  settlers  were  not  attacked  — 
the  rescue  of  Squanto  —  the  new  colonists  make  trouble  —  the 
M  little  captain  "  rights  with  the  Indians  —  the  founding  of  Duxbury 

—  the  war  with  the  Pequots  —  the  last  days  of  Miles  Standish. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN   WORK 

A  Puritan  boy  writes  home  of  his  first  day  at  Plymouth. 
.  Samoset  describes  his  first  visit  to  Plymouth. 
Two  pilgrims  talk  together  in  Holland  about  going  to  America : 
one  wishes  to  go,  the  other  does  not. 


PETEE  STUYYESANT 

LAST  DUTCH  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK 

WHILE  England  was  sending  colonists  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  France  was  making  a  settlement  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  another  European  country  was  plan- 
ning not  to  be  shut  out  of  the  New  World.  This  was 
Holland.    One  of  her  ships  under  Henry  Hudson  ex- 


74  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

plored  the  Hudson  River,  and  soon  the  Dutch  founded 
trading  posts  along  its  banks,  and  extended  them  almost 
as  far  south  as  where  Philadelphia  now  stands.  All  this 
country  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware  they 
called  New  Netherland.  Their  most  flourishing  settle- 
ment was  on  Manhattan  Island.  This  was  named  New 
Amsterdam.  One  morning  in  May,  1647,  there  was  great 
excitement  in  the  little  Dutch  village.  All  the  people 
put  on  their  Sunday  clothes  and  went  down  to  the  bank 
of  the  East  River.  "  He  's  coming  ! "  cried  some  one, 
and  they  were  so  glad  that  they  all  shouted  their  wel- 
come, though  the  vessel  was  much  too  far  away  for 
the  new  governor  to  hear  them.  It  came  slowly  up  the 
East  River  and  anchored  off  the  fort.  Then  the  cannon 
blazed  out  a  greeting;  the  people  shouted  louder  than 
ever;  the  governor  was  rowed  ashore  and  marched  up 
the  street  to  the  fort  in  all  the  glories  of  gold  lace 
and  ruffles,  drum  and  fife,  and  an  escort  of  soldiers, 
"  He  came  like  a  peacock,  with  great  state  and  pomp," 
wrote  some  one  of  his  arrival. 

This  governor,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  made  a  speech  to 
the  people.  "  I  shall  rule  you  as  a  father  rules  his  chil- 
dren," he  said.  They  all  cheered,  for  they  did  not  know 
that  he  meant  that  he  should  do  exactly  as  he  chose 
and  that  they  must  obey  him.  He  began  by  making  laws 
and  seeing  to  it  that  they  were  enforced.  He  forbade 
selling  liquor  to  the  Indians.    Whoever  broke  this  law 


PETER  STUYVESANT  75 

had  to  pay  for  all  the  damage  that  the  drunken  Indian 
might  do.  It  was  forbidden  to  build  any  more  wooden 
chimneys.  When  a  house  was  burned,  four  tire-wardens 
were  to  look  into  the  matter.  If  they  decided  that  the 
owner  had  been  care- 
less, he  had  to  pay  a 
fine  besides  losing  his 
house.  This  fine  went 
to  help  buy  hooks  and 
ladders  and  leather 
fire-buckets  for  future 
emergencies. 

The  colony  grew 
fast,  and  after  a  while 
it  began  to  call  itself 
a  city.  It  was  a  very 
quiet,  village-like  lit- 
tle city,  even  though 
it  was  giving  up  its 
wooden  buildings  and 
thatched  roofs.  Every 
citizen  who  could  af- 
ford it  made  the  end  of  his  house  which  fronted  the 
street  of  little  yellow  and  black  bricks  brought  from 
Holland  and  arranged  in  checker-board  fashion.  The 
roofs  were  gorgeous  with  yellow  and  black  tiles.  These 
Dutchmen  liked  plenty  of  room  for  themselves  and  their 


PETER  STUYVESANT 


76  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

homes,  and  every  one  wanted  to  have  around  his  house 
a  garden  where  he  could  raise  vegetables  and  flowers 
and  plant  the  tulip  bulbs  that  came  from  Holland.  He 
wanted  a  horse,  a  cow,  some  hens,  and  a  pig  or  two. 
Every  morning  the  town  herdsman  drove  the  cows  to 
pasture;  and  every  night  he  drove  them  back,  leaving 
each  cow  at  her  own  gate,  and  blowing  a  horn  to  let 
her  master  know  she  had  come. 

"Within  the  house,  there  was  one  room  that  was  kept 
sacred  from  common  use.  This  was  the  parlor,  and 
there  the  household  treasures  were  collected.  Car- 
pets had  not  yet  come  into  use,  but  fine  sand  was  first 
sprinkled  upon  the  floor  and  then  a  broom  was  drawn 
over  it  lightly  in  graceful  figures.  There  was  a  high- 
posted  bedstead  in  the  parlor,  heaped  up  with  a  thick 
feather  bed,  which  only  the  skillful  housewife  knew  how 
to  make  round  and  smooth.  There  was  a  down  quilt, 
and  there  were  heavy  curtains  and  a  valance.  Two  other 
pieces  of  furniture  were  the  special  pride  of  the  good 
housekeeper.  One  was  a  solid  oaken  chest.  When  the 
lid  was  raised  there  was  a  gleam  of  snowy  linen,  spun 
and  woven  by  the  busy  hands  of  the  women  of  the  house- 
hold, and  bleached  on  the  grass  to  a  dazzling  whiteness. 
The  second  was  a  cupboard,  always  made  with  glass 
doors,  for  its  duty  was  not  to  hide  the  silver  and  por- 
celain but  to  show  it.  There  were  no  rocking  chairs 
or  sofas  in  the  Dutch  parlor,  or  anywhere  else  in  the 


PETER   STUYVESANT  77 

house  for  that  matter;  and  how  the  good  people  could 
ever  have    felt   comfortable,    as  they   sat  up   straight 


NEW  AMSTERDAM  IN  STUYVESANT'S  TIME 


and  stiff  in  the  leather-covered,  high-backed  chairs,  is  a 
mystery. 

The  parlor  was  used  on  festive  occasions  only;  the 
kitchen  was  the  home  room.  There  was  the  immense 
fireplace  with  pothooks  and  crane.  There  were  dressers 
with  rows  of  pewter  plates  and  mugs  and  porringers 
that  must  never  be  allowed  to  become  dull  if  their  mis- 
tress hoped  to  be  called  a  good  housekeeper.  There  was 
a  heavy  square  dining  table,  wide  and  roomy,  for  the 
Dutch  wives  and  daughters  knew  well  how  to  cook  deli- 


78  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

cious  dishes,  and  the  husbands  and  sons  knew  how  to 
appreciate  them. 

Those  early  New  Yorkers  were  sociable  people,  and 
they  did  not  by  any  means  give  all  their  time  to  spinning 
and  cooking  and  planting  gardens.  There  were  quilt- 
ings  and  huskings  and  apple-paring  bees;  there  were 
birthday  parties  and  weddings;  there  were  parties  at 
New  Year  and  Easter  and  Christmas  and  between  times. 
When  one  was  to  take  place,  the  gentlemen  made  them- 
selves gorgeous  in  their  coats  of  silk  or  plush  or  velvet, 
trimmed  with  lace  and  big,  round  silver  buttons.  These 
coats  came  down  almost  to  their  ankles.  Their  shoes 
were  fastened  with  broad  silver  buckles.  The  ladies  wore 
jackets,  and  skirts  which  were  almost  as  short  as  the 
men's  coats  were  long.  These  skirts  were  quilted  in 
patterns  until  they  were  fairly  stiff  with  the  stitching. 
Below  the  skirt  were  home-knit  stockings  of  red  or  blue 
or  green,  and  high-heeled  shoes.  Rings  and  brooches 
were  much  worn ;  but  the  one  ornament  that  every  Dutch 
lady  felt  she  really  could  not  do  without  was  gold  beads, 
strings  upon  strings  of  them,  to  wind  about  her  neck. 

The  great  merrymaking  of  the  year  was  at  Christmas. 
The  Pilgrims  had  seen  that  holiday  made  the  excuse  for 
so  much  drinking  and  low  amusement  in  England  that 
they  were  determined  to  have  no  Christmas  celebrations ; 
but  the  Dutch  saw  no  reason  why  both  grown-ups  and 
children  should  not  enjoy  the  day,  or  rather,  days,  for 


PETER  STUYVESANT  79 

one  was  not  nearly  enough  for  the  general  jollity 
and  merriment.  No  one  did  any  more  work  than  was 
really  necessary  during  that  time.    The  night  before 


_ 

.''■"{?        ■-'' ■           v'         ■ 

W*yk 

H^^-^BP 

ci  -™ 

P    !JjK     fflfl            J|  £  y 

Wfc    .Jim''  Hk 

^h         ^E^ktv^^f^^^  ^H 

,#i  *  I 

A  DUTCH  HOUSE  ON  SANTA  CLAUS  MORNING 

Christmas  the  children  all  hung  up  their  stockings  in 
the  chimney  corner.  Then  they  joined  hands  and  sang 
a  song  to  Santa  Claus  which  ended, 

"  If  you  '11  to  me  a  present  give, 
I  '11  serve  you  truly  while  I  live." 


80  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

As  the  years  passed,  there  was  more  silver  plate  in 
the  houses  and  handsomer  furniture  was  brought  from 
Holland.  There  were  velvet  chairs,  watches,  clocks, 
silken  gowns,  jewelry,  broadcloth  suits,  embroidered 
purses,  shirts  and  neckcloths  trimmed  with  lace,  and 
breeches  made  of  silk  and  flowered  with  silver  and  gold. 
More  colonists  had  come,  and  ]STew  Amsterdam  was 
quite  a  different  place  in  1664  from  what  it  had  been 
in  1647  when  the  whole  village  turned  out  to  welcome 
the  new  governor.  For  seventeen  years  he  had  ruled 
the  Dutch  town,  and  he  had  done  well  by  it,  for  he  was 
honest  and  he  meant  to  do  what  he  thought  was  for  the 
best.  He  had  treated  the  Indians  kindly  but  firmly,  and 
there  had  been  little  trouble  with  them.  Difficulties 
were  soon  to  appear,  however.  One  day  a  young  man 
who  had  just  come  from  Boston  to  New  Amsterdam 
told  the  governor  some  startling  news.  "  King  Charles 
of  England  has  given  this  land  to  his  brother  James, 
the  Duke  of  York,"  he  said,  "  and  there  is  a  rumor 
that  a  fleet  of  armed  vessels  is  already  on  the  way  to 
take  possession  of  it." 

Then  there  was  excitement  from  one  end  of  the  Dutch 
city  to  the  other.  The  governor  bought  powder  and  food 
and  did  his  best  to  strengthen  his  fortifications.  He  had 
but  one  hundred  soldiers,  one  little  fort,  a  few  guns  and 
a  small  supply  of  powder.  The  three-foot  wall  of  earth 
and  the  crumbling  wooden  palisade  might  help  to  keep 


PETER   STUYVESANT  81 

out  the  arrows  of  the  Indians,  but  they  would  be  small 
protection  against  King  Charles's  cannon  balls.  Still  the 
governor  had  no  thought  of  surrender.  He  "  stumped  " 
about  from  one  place  to  another,  giving  orders  to  the 
men  who  were  working  on  the  fortifications,  sometimes 
encouraging  them,  sometimes  storming  at  them  for  their 
slowness,  and  stamping  angrily  with  his  wooden  leg. 

The  fleet  came.  Colonel  Nichols,  who  was  in  com- 
mand, took  possession  of  a  blockhouse  on  Staten  Island 
and  landed  some  of  his  soldiers  on  Long  Island.  Then 
the  governor  sent  a  formal  demand  to  know  what  this 
behavior  might  mean.  The  colonel  in  reply  ordered 
him  to  surrender.  "Yield  peaceably,  and  I  promise 
freedom  and  his  property  to  every  citizen,"  he  said. 
Now  New  Amsterdam  had  become  so  well-to-do  that 
many  English  had  come  there  to  live,  and  of  course 
they  preferred  to  be  under  the  English  king.  Even  the 
Dutch  believed  that  the  company  had  not  treated  them 
fairly,  and  so  they  did  not  feel  very  unhappy  at  the 
thought  of  having  a  new  ruler.  Certainly  they  would 
rather  live  under  English  rule  than  have  their  homes 
destroyed  by  English  soldiers.  The  Council  urged  the 
governor  to  surrender,  but  he  said  no.  The  citizens 
begged  him  to  yield.  Still  he  declared,  "  I  won't  sur- 
render." 

"While  they  were  talking,  Colonel  Nichols  sent  an- 
other letter,  promising  that,  if  they  would  yield,  the 


82  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

trade  with  Holland  should  go  on  as  usual,  and  settlers 
should  come  from  that  country  as  freely  as  ever.  The 
governor  knew  very  well  that  if  the  people  saw  that 
letter  they  would  refuse  to  fight,  so  he  would  not  read 
it  to  them.  A  rumor  then  went  through  the  city,  "  The 
English  have  sent  a  letter  offering  good  terms,"  and  a 
crowd  gathered  around  the  council  room.  Even  the 
men  who  were  at  work  on  the  defenses  dropped  their 
tools  and  ran  crying,  "  The  letter,  the  letter  !  Show  us 
the  letter!" 

"  The  letter  must  be  read  to  them,"  said  the  Council. 

"  It  shall  never  be ! "  roared  the  governor,  pounding 
the  floor  with  his  wooden  leg  and  tearing  the  letter  into 
pieces. 

"  Show  us  the  letter  !  "  the  crowd  still  called.  The 
secretary  picked  up  the  pieces  and  put  them  together, 
and  it  was  read  aloud  from  the  steps  of  the  building. 

The  governor  wrote  a  strong,  manly  reply  to  Colonel 
Nichols,  saying  that  the  Dutch  had  discovered  ~New 
Netherland,  had  bought  it  of  the  Indians,  had  settled 
upon  it;  and  surely  it  belonged  to  them.  He  trained  his 
guns  on  the  English  ships,  and  he  marched  down  to  the 
landing,  ready  with  his  hundred  soldiers  to  fight  five  or 
six  times  that  number.  The  ships  had  ninety-four  gmis, 
and  the  colonists  had  about  twenty.  The  gunners  on 
the  vessels  and  the  gunners  on  the  land  stood  waiting 
the  signal  to  fire.    Then  a  paper  was  brought  to  the 


PETER   STUYVESANT  83 

governor,  signed  by  all  the  principal  citizens,  his  own 
son  among  them,  begging  him  not  to  allow  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  town.  "Women  crowded  about  him,  weeping 
and  praying  him  to  save  their  homes.  Little  children 
clung  to  him  and  cried,  "  Save  us,  save  us !  " 

"  I  would  rather  be  carried  out  to  my  grave,"  cried 
the  dauntless  governor;  but  he  was  helpless,  for  the 
people  refused  to  obey  his  orders.  The  white  flag  of 
surrender  was  finally  run  up,  and  the  governor  marched 
out  of  the  fort  at  the  head  of  his  men  with  flags  flying 
and  drums  beating.  Down  on  the  shore  the  English 
soldiers  were  already  drawn  up  in  line,  and  soon  the 
English  flag  was  floating  over  Fort  Amsterdam,  which 
now  became  Fort  James.  The  town  had  saved  its 
houses,  but  it  had  lost  its  name;  it  was  no  longer 
New  Amsterdam,  but  in  honor  of  the  Duke  of  York  it 
was  called  New  York,  and  Colonel  Nichols  became  its 
governor. 

Whether  the  town  was  English  or  Dutch,  Governor 
Stuyvesant  had  no  idea  of  leaving  it.  He  owned  a  large 
bowery,  or  farm,  and  there  he  spent  his  last  years. 
He  had  fine  horses  and  cattle  and  the  best  of  fruit 
trees.  He  had  a  prim  flower  garden  laid  out  in  stiff 
regular  beds.  Behind  the  garden  was  the  roomy 
two-story  house  to  which  he  delighted  to  welcome  his 
friends  —  and  among  thenl  was  his  old  enemy,  Colonel 
Nichols ! 


84  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

OUTLINE 

The  Dutch  settle  in  America  —  the  coming  of  the  new  governor 

—  his  speech  —  his  laws  —  description  of  the  Dutch  houses  and 
gardens  —  the  parlor  —  the  kitchen  —  social  pleasures  —  the  com- 
ing of  luxuries  —  the  rule  of  Governor  Stuyvesant  —  startling  news 
from  England  —  fortifying  the  town  —  Colonel  Nichols's  demand 

—  feelings  of  the  citizens  —  Nichols's  second  letter  —  Stuy vesant's 
refusal  to  have  it  read  to  the  people  —  his  reply  to  Nichols  —  the 
citizens'  petition  —  surrender  —  Stuyvesant  and  his  bowery. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

The  coming  of  Governor  Stuyvesant. 
A  visit  to  a  home  in  New  Amsterdam. 
Governor  Stuyvesant  describes  the  surrender. 


KING  PHILIP 
CHIEF   OF  THE  WAMPANOAGS 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  before  the  Pilgrims  had 
been  long  in  Plymouth,  Massasoit,  chief  of  the 
Wampanoags,  paid  them  a  visit.  He  promised  to  be 
their  friend,  and  that  promise  was  never  broken. 

One  day  a  little  brown-skinned  baby  was  born  in  his 
wigwam.  A  white  mother  would  have  bought  her  baby 
a  cradle,  but  an  Indian  mother  would  have  said,  "No,  a 
cradle  is  not  safe,  it  may  tip  over.  It  is  heavy,  too> 
and  I  want  to  carry  my  baby  with  me  wherever  I  go." 


KING  PHILIP  85 

So  this  child,  like  other  Indian  children,  was  rolled 
in  soft  furs  and  bound  to  a  board  a  little  larger  than 
himself.  A  hoop,  or  a  sort  of  hood,  was  put  up  above  his 
head;  and  then,  even  if  the  board  had  a  hard  fall,  the 
baby  was  not  hurt.  Little  playthings  hung  from  the 
hoop;  but  he  had  small  need  of  them,  for  there  were 
always  so  many  interesting  things  to  watch. 

When  his  father  had  gone  out  to  hunt  that  they  might 
have  food,  his  mother  would  go  into  the  forest  for  wood; 
and  while  she  was  gathering  it,  the  board  and  the  baby 
hung  on  the  branch  of  a  tree.  The  breeze  swayed  them 
to  and  fro,  the  green  leaves  fluttered  and  glittered  in 
the  sunshine.  The  squirrels  chattered  all  around  him; 
sometimes  the  birds  lighted  on  the  branches  near  him 
and  looked  curiously  to  see  what  kind  of  bird  he  was 
and  what  kind  of  nest  that  strange  cradle  could  be. 
Then  when  his  mother  was  tired  and  sat  down  under 
the  tree  to  rest,  she  sang  him  songs  about  the  bravest 
men  of  his  tribe,  how  they  had  saved  their  people  in 
time  of  war  and  how  many  of  their  enemies  they  had 
slain.  "  By  and  by,  my  little  Metacomet,"  she  would 
say,  "  you,  too,  will  be  a  brave  fighter.  You  must  lead 
your  people  on  the  warpath,  and  you  must  never  yield." 

When  Metacomet  grew  older,  he  found  that  there 
were  many  things  for  him  to  learn.  Stories  were  told 
him  of  deeds  of  courage,  and  he  must  remember  them 
and  be  able  to  tell  them  again.   He  must  learn  to  use  a 


86  AMERICAN   HERO    STORIES 

bow  and  arrow.  "  You  must  shoot  straight  and  quickly," 
his  father  would  say,  "  and  you  must  not  give  your 
enemy  a  chance  to  shoot  first."  He  must  learn  the  dif- 
ference between  the  footprints  made  by  the  moccasins 
of  his  own  people  and  those  made  by  other  tribes.    He 


METACOMET  LEARNING    HIS  LESSONS 


must  learn  how  to  put  on  the  war  paint  and  what  the 
different  colors  meant.  He  must  learn  not  to  scream 
when  he  was  frightened  or  to  cry  when  he  was  hurt. 
He  must  not  whine  for  fire  if  he  was  cold  or  for  food 
if  he  was  hungry.  He  had  no  books  about  plants  and 
animals,  but  he  must  learn  about  them.  He  must  know 
which  roots  were  good  to  eat,  on  which  side  of  the  trees 
the  moss  grew  thickest,  how  to  tell  the  marks  made  in 


KING  PHILIP  87 

the  bark  of  a  tree  by  a  bear  from  those  made  by  a  moose, 
how  far  a  wildcat  could  spring,  and  how  to  escape  from  a 
rattlesnake.  He  must  learn  to  make  nooses  and  snares, 
to  hunt  and  to  fish;  not  for  amusement  by  any  means, 
but  because  when  he  became  a  man  and  had  a  wife  and 
children,  they  would  starve  if  he  could  not  bring  them 
anything  to  eat  from  the  forest. 

Even  in  his  games  the  Indian  boy  was  ever  learning 
.to  be  strong  and  skillful  and  to  make  his  own  way  in 
life.  The  boys  wrestled,  they  ran  races,  they  had  shoot- 
ing and  swimming  matches  and  sham  battles.  The  older 
people  were  always  interested  in  these  contests.  If  a 
boy  had  won  in  a  swimming  race,  for  instance,  some 
one  would  be  sure  to  remember  that  one  of  his  family 
had  been  a  great  swimmer  and  would  say  to  him,  "  The 
brother  of  your  grandfather  could  swim  well.  He  be- 
came a  mighty  warrior.  We  will  see  what  you  will  do." 
Then  the  little  Indian  boy  was  happy  indeed,  and  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  greater  warrior  than  any  of 
his  family. 

So  it  was  that  the  little  son  of  Massasoit  grew  up. 
The  white  people  had  come  to  Massachusetts  long  before 
he  was  born,  and  he,  together  with  his  older  brother, 
Wamsutta,  must  have  gone  many  a  time  to  their  settle- 
ments. When  Massasoit  died,  Wamsutta  became  chief 
in  his  father's  place,  and  he,  too,  was  friendly  with  the 
people  at  Plymouth.    The  Indians  had  bought  guns  of 


88  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

the  whites  before  this,  and  Wamsutta  and  Metacomet 
used  to  go  to  them  to  buy  powder.  They  told  their 
Plymouth  friends  that  they  would  like  to  have  names 
like  those  of  the  white  people.  Then  the  Plymouth 
court  chose  for  them  the  names  of  two  heroes  of  ancient 
times,  and  declared  that  Wamsutta  should  be  called 
Alexander  and  Metacomet  should  be  called  Philip. 

The  whites  never  felt  as  sure  of  Alexander's  friend- 
ship as  they  had  felt  of  his  father's;  and  after  a  while, 
reports  began  to  come  to  them  which  said,  "  Alexander 
is  friendly  with  the  Narragansetts.  Beware  !  "  Massa- 
soit's  tribe  and  the  Narragansetts  had  long  been  bitter 
enemies.  "  If  they  and  Alexander  have  become  friends," 
thought  the  whites,  "  it  must  be  that  they  are  planning 
to  attack  us."  So  they  sent  to  the  chief  a  request  to 
come  to  Plymouth  and  explain  what  this  meant.  He 
came,  but  on  the  way  he  was  taken  sick,  and  a  few  days 
later  he  died.  This  sudden  illness  seemed  very  myste- 
rious to  Philip,  and  he  suspected  that  his  brother  had 
been  poisoned. 

Philip  was  now  chief  of  the  Wampanoags.  Every 
little  while  the  English  heard  that  he  was  not  their 
friend.  "  He  said  he  wanted  the  land  back  that  his  tribe 
had  sold  to  the  white  men,"  declared  one.  "Many  In- 
dians from  other  tribes  are  coming  to  see  him,"  said 
another,  "  and  they  have  long  councils  together."  "  The 
young  men  among  the  Wampanoags  and  the  Narragan- 


KING  PHILIP  89 

setts  want  to  fight  and  show  themselves  as  brave  as 
their  fathers,"  said  still  another. 

The  colonists  talked  over  these  things.    Then  they 
asked  Philip  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace ;  but  he  seems 


A  FANCIFUL  PORTRAIT  OF  KING  PHILIP 
By  Paul  Revere 

not  to  have  kept  it  very  well,  for  three  or  four  years 
later  he  was  asked  to  make  another.  Then  he  replied 
proudly,  "  Your  governor   is  but   a   subject   of   King 


90  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

Charles  of  England.  I  shall  not  treat  with  a  subject. 
I  shall  treat  of  peace  only  with  the  king,  my  brother. 
When  he  comes,  I  am  ready." 

Philip  lived  at  Mount  Hope,  and  not  far  from  his 
home  was  the  little  village  of  Swanzey.  One  day  in 
1675,  men  from  Swanzey  came  galloping  into  Boston 
for  help.    "  The  Indians  !  "  they  cried,  "  the  Indians  are 

upon  us !  They  have 
^A/^M^^a^aj^f<t^(xc^tS^    set  fire  to  two  houses 

&J  \ma*(*<  in  our  town!"    Then 

•  both  Boston  and  Plym- 

KING  PHILIP'S  MARK  ,, 

outn  sent  messengers 
straight  to  King  Philip.  "  Your  men  have  broken  the 
treaty,"  they  were  to  say.  "Send  us  the  ones  who 
burned  those  houses,  that  we  may  punish  them,  or  there 
will  be  war  at  once !  "  The  men  never  gave  their  mes- 
sage to  King  Philip,  for  when  they  came  near  Swanzey 
they  saw  that  war  had  already  broken  out.  The  savages 
had  attacked  the  town,  and  murdered  men,  women,  and 
little  children. 

Then  there  was  no  more  delay.  Men  set  out  from 
Boston  and  Plymouth  for  Mount  Hope,  and  marched 
night  and  day.  Philip  had  no  idea  that  any  one  would 
attack  him  so  soon,  and  he  was  quietly  eating  his  dinner 
when  the  English  burst  in  upon  him.  He  fled,  but  the 
English  pursued  him  so  closely  that  one  man  caught 
the   chief's  cap  from  his  head,   just   as  he   was   run- 


KING  PHILIP  91 

ning  into  a  swamp,  where  the  English  could  not  follow 
him. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  fierce  war.  One  place 
after  another  was  attacked  by  the  Indians.  At  Brook- 
field,  Massachusetts,  there  was  one  large  house  so  much 
stronger  than  the  others  that  all  the  whites  crowded  into 
it.  The  Indians  fired  through  the  walls;  they  tied  long 
poles  together  with  burning  rags  on  the  end,  and  tried  to 
get  near  enough  to  set  fire  to  the  house.  But  the  bul- 
lets of  the  men  within  drove  them  back.  They  tied  the 
burning  rags  to  arrows,  and  shot  them  up  into  the  air, 
so  they  would  fall  on  the  roof  and  kindle  it;  but  the 
people  in  the  garret  cut  through  the  roof,  and  put  out 
the  fires.  Then  they  built  a  rude  sort  of  platform  sev- 
eral yards  long,  put  hay,  chips,  and  flax  on  the  end,  set 
the  mass  afire,  and,  using  a  barrel  for  a  wheel,  rolled  it 
with  long  poles  toward  the  house.  The  Indians  were 
sheltered  by  the  planks,  and  the  bullets  of  the  white 
men  could  not  touch  them.  The  fire  was  too  large  to  be 
put  out  by  throwing  water  upon  it  from  the  windows. 
"  We  can  do  nothing  more,"  groaned  the  brave  defend- 
ers. "  But  see,  God  himself  is  coming  to  our  help !  " 
cried  one,  for  a  thick  cloud  was  hanging  over  them, 
and  suddenly  a  heavy  rain  began  to  fall.  The  fires  went 
out;  and  before  the  Indians  could  make  any  new  attack, 
soldiers  came,  and  they  fled. 

The  Connecticut  River  was  the  "  far  west "  in  those 


92  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

days,  and  the  little  villages  near  its  banks  were  in  terrible 
danger.  Springfield,  Hatfield,  Deerfield,  Hadley,  and 
many  others  were  attacked  by  the  savages.  A  strange 
story  is  told  of  the  attack  on  Hadley.  It  was  a  fast 
day,  and  all  the  people  were  in  church.  In  the  midst 
of  the  prayer,  they  heard  the  awful  warwhoop  of  the 
Indians.  The  men  rushed  out  with  their  guns,  but  the 
Indians  were  here,  there,  and  everywhere ;  there  seemed 
to  be  thousands  of  them.  It  was  all  so  sudden  that  for 
an  instant  the  men  were  dazed  and  stood  staring  and 
clutching  their  weapons.  One  more  instant,  and  the 
savages  would  have  been  upon  them.  Suddenly  a  tall, 
white-bearded  man  appeared.  He  had  the  bearing  of  a 
military  commander,  and  in  a  moment  the  men  of  Hadley 
found  themselves  obeying  his  orders.  They  formed  in 
line,  shot,  and  charged;  the  Indians  ran,  and  Hadley 
was  saved.  They  turned  back  to  their  leader,  but  he 
was  gone.  "  "Who  was  he  ?  "  they  asked,  but  no  one  had 
ever  seen  him  before.  They  never  saw  him  again,  and 
when  in  after  years  they  told  their  children  of  him,  they 
said  in  hushed  and  reverent  voices,  "It  was  an  angel 
from  heaven." 

The  next  that  was  known  of  Philip,  he  and  his  men 
attacked  the  little  village  of  Lancaster.  The  people 
there  had  been  told  by  spies  that  the  Indians  meant 
to  burn  their  town,  and  they  had  sent  their  minister 
to  Boston,  thirty-five  miles  away,  to  ask  for  soldiers  to 


94  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

protect  them.  The  soldiers  were  coming,  but  the  Indians 
came  sooner.  Just  at  sunrise  the  terrible  warwhoop  was 
heard.  In  a  few  hours  the  English  troops  arrived,  but 
the  village  had  been  burned,  many  people  killed,  and 
many  others  carried  away  as  prisoners.  Among  these 
was  the  wife  of  the  minister.  "  We  will  not  kill  her," 
they  said.  "  She  is  the  wife  of  the  great  medicine  man 
of  the  village.  He  will  pay  us  well  by  and  by  to  get  her 
again."  They  treated  her  as  well  as  they  could,  for  if 
she  died  they  would  lose  the  ransom  that  they  hoped 
to  get.  Nevertheless,  she  had  a  very  hard  time.  At  first 
there  was  plenty  to  eat,  for  they  had  stolen  from  Lan- 
caster all  that  they  could  carry  away.  Soon,  however, 
the  food  gave  out,  and  they  had  to  eat  acorns,  roots, 
pounded  bones,  the  bark  of  trees,  and  any  kind  of  ani- 
mal they  could  catch  or  shoot.  Once  she  had  a  feast. 
Philip's  little  son,  a  boy  of  nine  of  whom  he  was  very 
fond,  was  with  him.  "  Will  you  make  my  boy  a  cap  ?  " 
he  asked  his  prisoner.  "Yes,"  she  replied,  and  soon  the 
little  fellow  was  strutting  about  in  it.  Then  the  father  in 
payment  invited  her  to  dinner,  and  gave  her  a  pancake 
"  about  as  big  as  two  fingers."  She  said  afterwards, 
"  It  was  made  of  parched  wheat,  beaten,  and  fried  in 
bear's  grease;  but  I  thought  I  never  tasted  pleasanter 
meat  in  my  life."  After  three  months  of  this  wander- 
ing, she  was  ransomed  for  about  one  hundred  dollars, 
and  given  up  to  her  husband  in  Boston. 


KING  PHILIP  95 

At  last  Philip  was  pursued  to  his  old  home  at  Mount 
Hope.  The  only  way  that  he  could  escape  by  land  was 
by  a  narrow  isthmus,  and  that  the  English  held.  One  of 
the  chief's  men  said  to  him,  "We  cannot  get  away;  we 
must  yield."  But  this  unyielding  chieftain  was  so  angry 
that  with  a  single  blow  of  his  tomahawk  he  killed  the 
man  who  had  advised  surrender.  This  man's  brother 
slipped  away  from  his  chief  and  went  to  the  English. 
"  Philip  has  killed  my  brother.  I  can  tell  you  where  he 
is,"  he  said.  Without  a  moment's  delay,  the  English 
marched  upon  the  hiding-place  of  the  chief.  "  When  he 
tries  to  escape,  he  will  have  to  go  by  this  spot,''  said  the 
commander,  and  he  ordered  an  Englishman  and  the  In- 
dian deserter  to  watch  for  him.  Soon  they  saw  him  run- 
ning at  full  speed,  and  both  men  fired.  The  white  man's 
gun  missed  fire,  but  the  Indian's  bullet  went  straight, 
and  the  chief  fell  dead.  It  would  have  broken  his  heart 
if  he  had  known  the  fate  of  his  little  boy,  for  the  child 
was  sent  with  hundreds  of  other  captives  to  the  West 
Indies  and  sold  as  a  slave.  He  was  the  last  of  the  race 
of  Massasoit,  the  faithful  friend  of  the  Englishmen. 

OUTLINE 

The  treatment  of  little  Metacomet  —  what  he  learned  —  his 
games — Massasoit's  sons  and  the  Pilgrims  —  new  names  for  the 
Indians — the  whites  suspect  Alexander  —  his  death  —  why  the 
whites  distrusted  Philip  —  the  treaty  of  peace — the  attack  on 
Swanzey  —  the  whites  march  to  Mount  Hope  —  the  repulse  at 


96  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

Brookfield  —  the  commander  at  Hadley  —  A  prisoner  among  the 
Indians  —  death  of  Philip  —  fate  of  his  son. 


SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Metacomet  and  a  white  boy  tell  each  other  what  they  have  to 
learn. 

The  two  boys  describe  their  games. 

A  Brookfield  colonist  describes  the  Indian  attack. 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLOEED  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

IN  1675,  at  the  time  of  King  Philip's  War,  there  were 
colonies  in  all  the  states  bordering  on  the  Atlantic 
from  Maine  to  South  Carolina,  and  they  were  all  sub- 
ject to  England.  Most  of  the  French  settlements  were 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  the  Great  Lakes.  The 
Indians  had  told  the  French  of  a  mighty  stream  to 
the  southward;  and  whenever  a  group  of  Frenchmen 
were  sitting  around  the  fire  some  long  evening  in  the 
little  village  of  Montreal,  some  one  was  sure  to  ask, 
"Where  do  you  suppose  the  Mississippi  Piver  emp- 
ties?" 

"  The  men  who  went  with  the  Spaniard  De  Soto  de- 
clared that  it  emptied  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,"  one 
would  reply.  Another  would  retort,  "  That  tale  is  a 
hundred  years  old.  De  Soto  went  off  on  a  wild-goose 
chase  to  search  for  gold.   He  did  not  find  any,  and  of 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI        97 

course  his  men  had  to  tell  some  big  story  when  they 
came  back."  Then  another  would  say  more  thought- 
fully, "  The  Indians  who  live  to  the  west  of  us  declare 
that  far  to  the  west  of  them  are  strange  people  who 
have  no  beards.  They  must  be  Chinese,  and  I  believe 
that  the  Mississippi  flows  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  What 
fortunes  we  could  make  if  we  could  only  find  that  river 
and  trade  with  China  !  " 

"  Who  knows  whether  there  is  any  river  ?  "  another 
would  demand  laughingly.  "  The  Indians  talk  about '  big 
water,'  but  who  can  tell  whether  they  mean  a  great  river 
or  the  ocean  ?  " 

There  was  a  young  man  named  Robert  la  Salle  who 
was  so  much  interested  in  this  mysterious  stream  that 
he  thought  of  it  by  day  and  dreamed  of  it  by  night.  At 
last  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go  in  search  of  it.  He  had 
little  money  to  pay  for  canoes  and  provisions  and  pre- 
sents for  the  Indians  through  whose  country  he  must 
pass,  but  he  owned  some  land  eight  or  nine  miles  from 
Montreal.  So  he  sold  it  and  started  on  his  exploring 
trip.  Through  the  forest  and  down  the  Ohio  he  made 
his  way.  Then  his  men  refused  to  go  any  farther,  and 
he  had  to  return  to  Canada.  Every  one  laughed  at  him. 
"  There 's  the  man  who  went  to  China,"  they  said. 
They  pointed  out  the  land  that  he  had  sold,  saying, 
"  There  's  La  Salle's  China,"  or  La  Chine,  as  it  is  in 
French. 


98  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

Even  though  this  expedition  had  failed,  it  made  people 
think  more  about  the  unknown  river,  and  finally  Gov- 
ernor Frontenac  determined  to  send  explorers  in  search 
of  it.  The  men  whom  he  chose  were  Louis  Joliet,  a 
fur  trader,  and  Father  Marquette,  a  priest.  All  that  the 
two  men  did  to  prepare  for  their  long  journey  was  to 
buy  two  birch-bark  canoes,  some  smoked  meat,  and 
Indian  corn.  Five  men  were  engaged  to  go  with  them, 
and  they  set  out.  They  hoped  to  find  Indians  to  show 
them  the  way;  and  surely  they  needed  guides,  for  their 
only  map  was  one  that  they  had  drawn  as  best  they 
could  from  the  stories  of  the  red  men. 

They  went  west  as  far  as  Green  Bay,  at  the  northern 
end  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  Indians  who  lived  there 
were  friendly.  After  they  had  feasted  the  strangers, 
they  asked,  "Where  are  you  going,  Frenchmen?" 

"  We  are  going  to  find  the  great  river,  the  Missis- 
sippi," they  replied. 

"  O  Frenchmen,"  the  Indians  pleaded,  "  do  not  go 
there.  The  tribes  whose  wigwams  are  on  the  banks  of 
that  river  are  terrible.  They  kill  every  one  who  comes 
near  them.  There  is  an  evil  spirit,  too,  that  lives  in  a 
great  gulf  of  waters,  and  he  will  drag  you  down  into 
his  den." 

"  We  are  Christians,"  replied  Marquette,  "  and  evil 
spirits  cannot  hurt  Christians." 

"  There  are  two  dreadful  monsters  that  stay  on  a 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI  99 
great  rock  beside  the  river,"  continued  the  Indians. 
"  They  will  eat  yon  and  your  canoes." 

"  Not  when  we  show  them  this,"  replied  Marquette, 
holding  his  crucifix  high  up  before  the  red  men.  "  If 
you  will  listen  to  me,  I  will  tell  you  how  you  may  go 
among  monsters  and  not  be  harmed."    Then  he  told 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BY  MARQUETTE 
From  a  painting  by  J.  N.  Marchand 

them  about  the  religion  of  Christ  and  taught  them  to 
say  a  prayer. 

The  explorers  said  good-by  and  went  on  their  way. 
Soon  they  came  to  another  little  Indian  village.   In  the 


100  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

midst  of  the  cluster  of  wigwams  stood  a  great  cross. 
Furs  and  bows  and  arrows  and  red  belts  were  hanging 
on  it.   "  What  does  that  mean?  "  Joliet  asked. 

"  The  cross  belongs  to  the  God  of  the  Frenchmen," 
the  Indians  replied.  "  We  heard  of  him  from  a  Black 
Robe  like  you/'  and  they  turned  to  Marquette.  "  We  had 
plenty  of  food  last  winter,  and  so  we  have  given  him 
offerings  because  we  are  grateful.  But  where  are  you 
going?  " 

"My  friend,  the  Black  Robe,  is  going  to  tell  the  Indians 
about  God,"  answered  Joliet,  "  and  I  am  going  to  search 
for  the  Mississippi  River  and  explore  new  countries  so 
I  can  tell  our  governor  at  home  about  them.  Will  you 
give  us  guides  to  show  us  the  way?  " 

"  Yes,"  they  cried,  and  soon  the  Frenchmen  had  left 
the  little  village  far  behind  them. 

At  last  they  were  in  the  "  big  water,"  the  mighty 
river  that  they  had  come  to  discover.  Every  night  they 
ran  their  canoes  ashore,  built  a  fire,  and  slept.  Every 
day  they  floated  onward.  It  was  a  wonderful  country 
that  they  were  passing  through.  June  had  come,  and 
everything  was  fresh  and  bright.  There  were  beautiful 
groves,  dense  forests,  prairies,  cliffs,  and  great  masses 
of  tangled  grapevines.  There  were  flowers  of  all  colors. 
Buffaloes  and  deer  and  many  other  animals  stared  at 
them  from  the  river  banks.  Strange  fishes  bumped 
against  their  canoes.  One  morning  when  they  were  near 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI      101 

the  shore,  one  of  the  company  cried  suddenly,  "  See, 
those  are  men's  footprints  there  in  the  mud!"  "And 
that  is  surely  a  path,"  said  another.  "  It  must  lead  to 
an  Indian  village."  "We  will  go  and  see,"  declared 
the  two  leaders.  After  they  had  walked  up  the  path 
for  nearly  six  miles,  they  caught  sight  of  a  group  of 
wigwams.  They  shouted  so  that  the  Indians  might 
know  they  were  coming  as  friends  and  not  trying  to 
surprise  them.  In  a  moment  the  whole  village,  men, 
women,  and  children,  had  run  out  of  doors  to  see  who 
had  come.  Four  tall,  dignified  men  came  toward  the 
explorers,  holding  up  two  peace  pipes.  That  meant, 
"  Let  us  be  friends,"  and  so  they  all  walked  together 
into  the  village.  The  chief  made  a  speech  of  wel- 
come, and  after  that  the  whole  company  of  Indians  es- 
corted the  strangers  to  another  village  where  a  greater 
chief  lived.  Then  there  was  speechmaking  indeed.  The 
second  chief  told  them  the  sun  shone  brighter  and 
the  whole  earth  was  more  beautiful  because  they  had 
come.  "  You  have  even  made  our  river  calm,"  he 
declared,  "  for  your  canoes  removed  the  rocks  as  you 
came."  There  was  a  feast,  of  course,  and  then  the 
travelers  went  away. 

"When  they  had  floated  on  to  where  the  city  of  Alton, 
Illinois,  now  stands,  they  looked  up  on  a  high  cliff,  and 
there  were  the  monsters  that  the  Indians  had  told  them 
about.     These    monsters  were  figures  painted  on  the 


102  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

rock.  Their  faces  were  a  little  like  those  of  men,  but 
their  bodies  were  scaly  and  ended  like  the  tails  of  fish. 
They  had  horns  and  fiery  red  eyes.  A  little  farther  on, 
the  Frenchmen  heard  the  roar  of  the  evil  spirit  that  they 
had  been  told  about.  That  was  made  by  the  water 
rushing  among  the  rocks  in  a  little  bay.  Then  they 
came  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  and  there  they  found 
something  worse  than  painted  monsters  to  be  afraid  of, 
for  the  river  plunged  so  madly  into  the  Mississippi  that 
the  little  canoes  were  tossed  and  whirled  about  and 
almost  overturned  in  the  flood. 

Still  the  explorers  went  on  till  they  had  come  to  where 
the  Arkansas  Indians  lived.  "  You  'd  better  not  go  any 
farther,"  said  they.  "  There  are  tribes  to  the  south  of 
us  who  will  kill  you.  They  do  not  shoot  with  bows  and 
arrows,  but  with  fire-sticks  like  yours  that  they  have 
bought  of  the  Spaniards."  The  French  leaders  talked 
together  about  what  was  best  to  do.  "  We  may  be  sure 
that  the  river  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,"  they 
said.  "  If  we  go  on  any  farther,  we  shall  certainly  be 
captured  by  the  Indians  or  the  Spaniards.  Let  us  go 
back  to  Canada  and  tell  the  governor  what  we  have 
seen."  It  was  a  hard  journey,  for  now  there  was  no 
easy  floating,  but  instead  many  hundred  miles  of  pad- 
dling upstream.  For  eleven  weeks  they  toiled,  and  at 
last  they  were  again  at  Green  Bay.  Marquette  was 
ill  and  could  not  go  any  farther  for  a  long  while,  but 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI      103 

Joliet  went  on  and  told  Governor  Frontenac  of  all  the 
wonders  they  had  seen. 

Of  course  La  Salle  was  much  interested  in  Joliet's 
report,  and  a  few  years  later  he  had  a  plan  to  propose 
to  the  governor.  "  Let  us  build  a  line  of  forts  along  the 
Mississippi,"  he  said,  "and  put  a  strong  colony  at  its 
mouth.  Then  neither  the  Spanish  nor  the  English  can 
buy  furs  of  the  Indians  along  the  river.  France  will 
have  all  that  fur  trade,  and  we  ourselves  shall  become 
rich  men." 

La  Salle  went  to  France  to  ask  the  king  for  leave  to 
build  forts,  and  the  king  told  him  he  might  build  as 
many  as  he  chose.  As  soon  as  he  came  back,  he  made 
ready  for  a  journey  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
"  Will  you  go  with  us  ?  "  he  asked  a  number  of  Indians. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  but  braves  do  not  cook. 
We  must  have  our  squaws  to  cook  for  us." 

"  The  squaws  may  go,"  La  Salle  agreed. 

"  But  they  will  not  go  without  their  children,"  de- 
clared the  Indians. 

So  it  was  that  between  fifty  and  sixty  persons,  white 
men,  red  men,  women,  and  children,  set  off.  Joliet  had 
gone  in  the  spring,  but  now  it  was  the  depth  of  winter, 
and  until  they  reached  the  place  where  St.  Louis  now 
stands,  they  had  to  drag  their  canoes  and  provisions  on 
sledges  over  the  ice  and  snow.  Glad  enough  they  were 
when  at  last  they  could  get  into  their  boats  and  float 


104  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

down  the  stream.  Once  they  were  badly  startled.  A 
dense  fog  had  set  in.  They  were  close  to  the  shore, 
when  suddenly  they  heard  loud  yells  and  the  beating 
of  an  Indian  drum.  "  That  means  a  war  dance,"  said 
the  explorers.  "  Let  us  cross  to  the  other  side."  They 
crossed,  and  worked  with  all  their  might  to  build  a  rude 
fort  of  logs  for  fear  the  savages  would  attack  them. 
All  in  a  moment  the  fog  cleared  away,  and  across 
the  river  they  saw  the  Indians,  who  stood  listening  to 
the  strange  sounds  and  wondering  what  they  could  be. 
These  Indians  were  all  ready  to  be  friendly.  Another 
tribe  showed  La  Salle  a  most  unusual  honor,  for,  as  he 
was  not  well,  the  chief  himself  came  in  all  state  to  visit 
the  white  man.  The  master  of  ceremonies  walked  first, 
followed  by  six  tall  Indians  to  make  sure  that  the  wa}^ 
was  clear.  Then  came  two  men  carrying  great  fans  of 
white  feathers,  and  one  man  with  a  broad  copper  disk 
that  shone  and  gleamed  in  the  sunshine.  After  all  these 
the  chief  appeared,  dressed  in  a  fine  white  blanket.  He 
and  La  Salle  made  speeches  to  each  other.  La  Salle 
presented  knives,  beads,  red  cloth,  and  mirrors;  and  the 
little  procession  turned  about  and  went  gravely  away. 

At  last  the  explorers  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
The  Indian  braves  and  the  squaws  and  the  children  must 
have  been  greatly  amazed  at  the  next  move,  for  all  the 
Frenchmen  took  their  stand  with  their  guns.  They 
cnanted  the  Te  Deum,  "  We  praise  Thee,  O  God,'*  and 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI      105 


LA  SALLE  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 
From  a  painting  by  J.  N.  Marchand 

some  other  Latin  hymns.  The  guns  were  fired.  La  Salle 
stepped  into  the  centre  of  the  group  and  planted  a  tall 
post  on  which  was  written,  "  Louis  the  Great,  King  of 
France  and  Navarre,  April  9,  1682."  He  made  a  long 
speech,  declaring  that  he  claimed  for  his  sovereign  all 
the  land  that  was  drained  by  the  Mississippi  and  by  all 
the  rivers  that  flow  into  it.  "  Long  live  the  king !  "  the 
men  shouted,  "  Long  live  the  king !  "  Again  there  was 
firing  of  guns.  Then  a  great  cross  was  set  up  near  the 
post,  and  at  its  foot  was  buried  a  leaden  plate  on  which 


106  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

the  arms  of  France  were  engraved.  Another  Latin  hymn 
was  sung.  That  was  all;  but  it  was  because  of  this  lit- 
tle ceremony  on  the  lonely  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
that  France  claimed  as  her  own  all  the  land  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

La  Salle  did  not  give  up  the  rest  of  his  plan,  —  to 
found  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Not 
long  after  his  return  to  Canada  he  went  to  France. 
Wonderful  stories  had  gone  before  him.  "  Louisiana  is 
full  of  peaches  and  plums  and  berries  of  all  sorts,"  they 
said.  "  There  are  all  kinds  of  trees.  The  soil  is  so  rich 
that  if  you  only  scratch  the  surface  of  the  ground,  you 
can  raise  whatever  you  choose  to  plant." 

"  I  'd  like  to  go  there  to  live,"  said  one  after  another. 
When  La  iSalle  went  back,  eight  or  ten  families  went 
with  him.  They  did  not  go  by  Canada,  but  sailed  di- 
rectly for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  a  sad  one.  The  pilots  made  a 
mistake  and  went  four  hundred  miles  beyond  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  food  ship  and  one  other  vessel 
were  lost.  Sickness  set  in,  and  more  than  a  hundred 
men  died  within  a  few  days.  The  others  would  gladly 
have  gone  back  to  France,  but  only  one  ship  was  left,  and 
that  was  not  large  enough  to  carry  them  all  across  the 
ocean.  La  Salle  set  out  on  foot  for  Canada  to  get  help, 
a  terrible  undertaking.  On  the  way  he  was  murdered 
by  some  of  his  own  men.    The  lonely  colonists  met  a 


THE  MEN  WHO  EXPLORED  THE  MISSISSIPPI      107 

cruel  fate,  for  some  of  them  were  killed  by  the  Indians, 
and  the  others  were  made  prisoners  by  the  Spaniards. 

Such  was  the  end  of  La  Salle's  attempt  to  start  a 
colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  colony  was 
finally  founded,  and  was  called  New  Orleans;  but  this 
was  after  La  Salle  had  been  dead  for  many  years. 

OUTLINE 

The  English  and  the  French  colonies  in  1675  —  "Where  does 
the  Mississippi  empty?"  —  La  Salle's  journey  down  the  Ohio  — 
Governor  Frontenac  sends  Joliet  and  Marquette  to  find  the  Mis- 
sissippi —  the  Indians  urge  them  not  to  go  —  the  cross  in  the  In- 
dian village  —  they  come  to  the  "  big  water  "  —  the  shores  of  the 
Mississippi  —  a  visit  to  the  Indian  chiefs  —  the  monsters  on  the 
cliff  —  the  evil  spirit  —  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  —  the  warning 
of  the  Arkansas  Indians  —  the  return  of  the  explorers  —  La 
Salle's  plan  for  forts  and  a  colony  —  the  king's  permission  —  La 
Salle's  preparations  —  the  journey  to  St.  Louis  —  a  war  dance  — 
the  chief's  visit  —  the  ceremonies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
—  La  Salle  tries  to  found  a  colony  —  its  troubles  and  its  fate  — 
murder  of  La  Salle. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  Frenchman  tells  his  family  why  he  wishes  to  go  to  Louisiana. 
What  Joliet  told  Governor  Frontenac  of  his  journey. 
One  of  the  Indians  describes  the  greatest  danger  that  the  ex- 
plorers met. 


108  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

WILLIAM  PEl^" 
WHO   FOUNDED   PENNSYLVANIA 

WHILE  La  Salle  was  on  the  Mississippi  River 
planning  a  colony  that  failed,  an  English  Quaker, 
named  William  Penn,  was  getting  ready  to  found  a 
colony  that  was  to  succeed.  Long  before  this  the 
Quakers  had  thought  of  America.  "  The  Puritans  have 
gone  to  Massachusetts,"  they  said,  "  and  the  Roman 
Catholics  have  gone  to  Maryland.  Why  should  not  we 
have  a  home  of  our  own  in  the  New  World  ?  "  A  num- 
ber of  Quakers  crossed  the  ocean  and  made  little  set- 
tlements on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  Penn  said  to 
himself,  "  What  a  glorious  thing  it  would  be  if  we  could 
have  a  country  where  not  only  Quakers  but  every  one 
else  could  worship  God  as  he  thought  right !  "  At  last 
he  planned  a  way  in  which  this  might  be  brought  about. 
King  Charles  had  owed  Penn's  father  a  large  sum  of 
money,  so  the  young  man  asked,  "  Friend  Charles,  wilt 
thou  give  me  land  in  America  instead  of  that  money?" 
The  king  was  more  than  willing.  Land  in  America  was 
of  no  great  value,  he  believed,  and  so  he  readily  gave 
Penn  a  piece  almost  as  large  as  the  whole  of  England. 
"It  shall  be  called  New  Wales,"  said  Penn;  but  the 
king  had  the  good  taste  not  to  like  this  name.  "  Then 
let  it  be  Sylvania,"  Penn  suggested.    "  Pennsylvania," 


WILLIAM  PENN  109 

declared  the  quick-witted  king.  Penn  thought  that 
might  look  as  if  he  wished  to  honor  himself,  but  the 
king  said,  "  Oh  no,  it  is  to  honor  the  admiral,  your 
father."  So  Pennsyl- 
vania—  Penn's  wood- 
land —  was  written  on 
the  maps  of  the  new 
state. 

Just  where  his  set- 
tlement was  to  be,  he 
did  not  know,  but  he 
sent  three  men  across 
the  ocean  to  find  a 
good  place  and  treat 
with  the  Indians.  The 
town  was  to  be  named 
Philadelphia,  or  the 
City  of  Brotherly 
Love.  He  had  a  de- 
lightful time  planning  it.  He  did  not  mean  to  have  the 
houses  dropped  down  anywhere  and  to  have  the  streets 
wriggle  and  twist  to  go  by  the  houses.  His  town  was 
to  have  streets  running  north  and  south,  cut  at  right 
angles  by  other  streets  running  east  and  west.  Those 
that  went  north  and  south  were  to  be  numbered,  First 
Street,  Second  Street,  and  so  on ;  those  that  went  east 
and  west  were  to  be  named  for  the  trees  of  the  forest, — 


WILLIAM  PENN 


110  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Chestnut,  Walnut,  Spruce,  and  Pine.  The  river  banks 
were  never  to  be  built  upon,  but  always  to  be  open 
to  the  people.  The  streets  were  made  narrow  because 
Penn  was  not  planning  for  a  large  city  but  for  a  "  green 
country  town."  He  marked  on  his  plan  just  where  the 
city  hall  was  to  be,  where  he  meant  to  have  open  parks, 
and  where  his  own  house  was  to  stand.  He  wrote  a 
friendly  letter  to  the  English  and  the  Swedes  who  were 
already  settled  on  his  land,  telling  them  he  hoped  they 
would  not  dislike  having  him  as  governor,  for  they 
should  be  treated  fairly  and  make  whatever  laws  they 
thought  best.  He  also  wrote  to  the  Indians  that  he  was 
their  friend  and  that  he  wanted  to  live  with  them  in 
love  and  peace.  He  sent  his  cousin  across  the  ocean  to 
deliver  these  letters  and  act  as  governor  until  he  him- 
self could  come.  Then  he  set  to  work  and  wrote  a  busi- 
nesslike advertisement.  It  told  how  much  it  would  cost 
to  cross  the  ocean,  how  much  he  would  sell  land  for, 
what  kind  of  country  Pennsylvania  was,  and  what  things 
colonists  would  need.  It  was  not  long  before  ships 
began  to  carry  settlers  to  Pennsylvania.  It  is  thought 
that  three  thousand  came  the  first  year. 

These  settlers,  even  the  earliest  of  them,  had  none  of 
the  hard  times  that  the  people  of  Plymouth  and  James- 
town had  to  endure.  Of  course  there  were  no  houses ; 
and  when  the  first  ship  sailed  up  the  beautiful  Delaware 
River,  her  passengers  had  to  scramble  up  the  bank  and 


WILLIAM  PENN  111 

shelter  themselves  as  best  they  could  until  their  houses 
were  built.  Some  of  them  made  huts  of  bark.  Some 
dug  into  the  river  bank  and  beat  down  the  earth  for 
floors.  For  walls  they  piled  up  sods,  or  they  cut  down 
branches  and  small  trees  and  set  them  up  around  the 
floor.  For  chimneys,  they  mixed  grass  and  clay  to- 
gether. Some  of  them  drove  forked  sticks  into  the 
ground,  laid  a  pole  in  the  crotches,  and  hung  a  kettle 
on  the  pole.  A  fire  was  built  under  it,  and  there  the 
cooking  was  done.  It  was  a  busy  time,  for  while  all  this 
was  going  on,  the  surveyors  were  marking  off  lots  as 
fast  as  they  could.  The  settlers  were  in  a  hurry,  for 
they  wanted  to  build  their  houses.  Some  made  them  of 
logs,  and  some  had  brought  the  frames  with  them,  each 
piece  marked  and  numbered,  so  they  could  be  put  up 
very  quickly.  The  Indians  were  much  interested.  They 
gazed  with  wonder  at  a  wooden  house  growing  almos: 
as  rapidly  as  a  wigwam.  They  often  did  more  than 
gaze;  they  helped  those  who  were  in  need.  On  the 
voyage  a  man  had  died,  and  his  widow,  with  eight  or 
nine  children,  found  herself  alone  in  a  strange  country. 
The  white  people,  busy  as  they  were,  saw  that  she  had 
a  cave-house  at  once,  and  the  Indians  hurried  to  bring 
venison  and  corn  for  her  and  her  little  family. 

The  next  year,  in  1682,  Penn  himself  came  to  America. 
He  landed  first  at  Newcastle,  and  there  he  took  formal 
possession  of  his  land  in  the  old  English  fashion;  that 


112  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

is,  he  took  a  cup  of  water,  a  handful  of  soil,  a  bit  of 
turf,  and  a  twig.  When  he  saw  his  new  town,  he  was  de- 
lighted. The  situation,  the  air,  the  water,  the  sky,  — 
everything  pleased  him,  and  he  wrote  his  friends  most 
enthusiastic  letters.  He  told  them  about  the  nuts  and 
grapes  and  wheat,  about  the  wild  pigeons,  the  big  tur- 
keys, the  ducks,  and  the  geese,  all  free  to  whoever  chose 
to  shoot  them.  The  water  was  full  of  fish  and  the  forest 
abounded  with  deer.  It  is  no  wonder  that  settlers  hur- 
ried to  Pennsylvania. 

Of  course  the  Indians  were  eager  to  see  the  new 
governor,  and  very  likely  a  group  of  them  stood  on  the 
bank  when  he  first  landed.  He  was  quite  as  eager  to 
meet  them,  and  soon  they  came  together  for  feasting 
and  a  treaty  of  peace.  Penn  was  exceedingly  hand- 
some. His  hair  was  long  and  lay  on  his  shoulders  in 
curls,  as  was  the  fashion  of  the  day.  His  clothes  had 
not  the  silver  trimmings  and  the  lace  that  most  young 
men  of  wealth  were  used  to  wear,  but  he  liked  to  have 
them  of  rich  material  and  well  made.  "  He  was  the 
handsomest,  best-looking,  and  liveliest  of  gentlemen," 
declared  a  lady  who  saw  him  at  that  time.  Tradition 
says  that  he  and  the  Indians  met  under  a  great  elm  that 
stood  on  the  river  bank.  The  deep  blue  stream  was 
flowing  softly  by,  the  blue  sky  was  overhead,  the  leaves 
of  the  elm  were  gently  fluttering,  and  little  birds  were 
peering   down  curiously  between   the  branches.    The 


114  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

chief  seated  himself  for  a  council.  His  wisest  men  sat 
close  behind  him  in  a  half  circle.  Behind  them  sat  the 
younger  braves.  Penn  stood  before  them  and  told  them 
about  his  colony.  He  said  that  he  wished  to  be  a  good 
friend  to  the  Indians  and  to  treat  them  kindly.  As  each 
sentence  was  translated  to  them,  they  gave  a  shout  of 
pleasure.  At  the  end  they  said,  "We  will  never  do  any 
wrong  to  you  or  your  friends;"  and  Penn  declared, 
"  We  will  live  in  love  as  long  as  the  sun  gives  light." 
Penn  paid  the  Indians  for  their  land  just  as  the  settlers 
of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Netherland 
had  done.  He  gave  them  cloth,  bells,  guns,  kettles, 
axes,  scissors,  knives,  mirrors,  shoes,  beads,  combs,  and 
shirts.  Of  course  all  these  things  together  would  hardly 
buy  a  rod  of  land  in  Philadelphia  to-day;  but  they 
were  of  great  value  to  the  Indians,  and  they  were  well 
pleased  with  the  bargain.  They  were  also  well  pleased 
with  the  governor.  He  was  dignified  and  courtly  in  his 

BELT  OF  WAMPUM  GIVEN  TO  PENN  TT  ,  ,      .  .   ,       - 

The  Indian  and  White  Man  clasp  hands  in  He  ^Ould  Sit  With  them 

friendship  and  ^  of  their  hominy 

and  roasted  acorns  as  if  he  were  one  of  them.  At  col- 
lege he  had  been  fond  of  outdoor  sports,  and  there  is 
a  story  that  once  when  the  red  men  were  leaping  to 
show  what  they  could  do,  he  suddenly  stepped  out  and 


WILLIAM  PENN  115 

leaped  higher  and  farther  than  they.  The  Indians  were 
delighted.  "  He  is  a  great  man,"  they  said,  "  bnt  when 
he  comes  among  us,  he  is  our  brother."  They  called  him 
"  Onas,"  the  Indian  word  for  pen  or  quill.  "  Onas  al- 
ways does  what  he  says  he  will  do,"  they  told  the  other 
tribes. 

Penn  stayed  two  years  in  America,  but  not  all  the 
time  in  Philadelphia.  Once  he  went  to  Maryland  to  have 
a  talk  with  Lord  Baltimore  about  boundaries.  America 
was  so  large,  and  a  few  miles  of  wilderness  seemed  of 
so  little  value,  that  the  English  kings  gave  away  broad 
slices  of  the  country  without  taking  much  trouble  to 
make  sure  that  no  two  men  had  the  same  piece.  Lord 
Baltimore  claimed  the  very  land  on  which  Philadelphia 
had  been  settled.  It  became  known  that  he  was  on  his 
way  to  England  to  lay  his  claim  before  the  king.  Then 
Penn  had  to  cross  the  ocean  to  defend  his  grant.  He 
expected  to  return  soon,  but  one  trouble  after  another 
kept  him  in  England  for  fifteen  years. 

At  last  the  time  came  when  he  and  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren could  come  to  Philadelphia.  He  built  a  fine  brick 
house  at  a  place  which  he  named  Pennsbury,  twenty 
miles  up  the  river.  It  was  handsomely  furnished.  There 
were  dishes  of  silver  and  china,  plush  couches,  embroi- 
dered chairs,  satin  curtains,  and  a  heavy  carpet — perhaps 
the  first  one  that  ever  came  across  the  ocean.  There  were 
gardens,  made  beautiful  not  only  with  plants  brought 


116  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

from  England,  but  with  wild  flowers  of  America.  Lawns 
and  terraces  ran  down  to  the  river  bank.  There  was  a 
stable  for  twelve  horses,  there  was  a  "  coach  and  four," 
there  was  a  barge  to  be  rowed  by  six  oarsmen.  The  In- 
dians came  freely  to  visit  him,  and  he  entertained  them 
on  his  lawn  or  in  the  great  hall  of  his  handsome  house. 
He  roamed  over  the  country  on  horseback,  and  was  once 
lost  in  the  woods  near  Valley  Forge  as  completely  as  if 
he  had  not  been  on  his  own  ground.  Once  when  he 
was  riding  to  meeting,  he  came  up  with  a  child  who 
was  also  going  to  the  same  place.  The  shy  little  bare- 
foot girl  must  have  been  half  afraid  but  much  delighted 
when  the  governor  caught  her  up,  set  her  behind  him 
on  his  great  horse,  and  trotted  on  to  meeting  with  her. 
It  would  be  pleasant  if  we  could  think  of  Penn  as  spend- 
ing the  rest  of  his  days  in  the  country  life  that  he  en- 
joyed; but  he  had  been  in  America  only  two  years  when 
he  was  obliged  to  return  to  England.  Never  again  did 
he  see  beautiful  Pennsbury,  his  Indian  friends,  the  city 
that  he  loved,  or  the  smoothly  flowing  Delaware. 

OUTLINE 

The  Quaker  colonies  —  Perm's  plan  for  a  colony  —  a  royal  grant 
—  his  plan  for  the  city  —  his  letters  to  the  settlers  on  his  land 
and  to  the  Indians  —  his  advertisement  —  the  shelter  of  the  first 
settlers  in  Philadelphia  —  the  first  houses  —  kindness  of  the  In- 
dians —  the  coming  of  Penn  —  his  letters  home  —  the  welcome 
of  the  Indians  —  Penn's  appearance  —  the  treaty  of  friendship  — 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  117 

Perm's  payment  to  the  Indians  —  his  behavior  to  them  —  what 
they  thought  of  him  —  Penn's  journey  to  Maryland  —  he  leaves 
America  —  his  return  —  Pennsbury  —  stories  of  Penn. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  settler  describes  his  first  days  in  Philadelphia. 
Penn  writes  his  wife  about  Pennsylvania. 
An  Indian  tells  a  distant  tribe  about  Penn. 


GEOKGE  WASHINGTON 

THE  YOUNG   SOLDIER 

IT  would  seem  as  if  a  few  groups  of  colonists  might 
live  in  peace  together  when  they  had  a  whole  con- 
tinent on  which  to  choose  places  for  their  homes ;  but 
during  the  half  century  following  the  settlement  of 
Philadelphia  there  was  a  great  deal  of  fighting  in 
America.  Much  of  it  was  caused  by  the  fact  that  when- 
ever England,  France,  and  Spain  were  at  war,  their 
colonies  also  fought.  After  a  while,  however,  the  colo- 
nists of  England  and  France  had  a  quarrel  of  their  own. 
Its  occasion  was  the  land  along  the  Ohio  River.  This 
message  came  to  the  French :  "  Those  Englishmen  are 
planning  to  send  out  settlers  to  the  Ohio." 

"  That  will  not  do,"  declared  the  French.  "  "We  want 
to  be  able  to  float  down  the  Ohio  into  the  Mississippi, 
and  so  on  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.   La  Salle  explored 


118  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

the  Ohio.  Moreover,  we  discovered  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Ohio  flows  into  it;  therefore  the  Ohio  is  ours." 

The  English  laughed  at  this.  "  The  French  claim  all 
the  rivers  that  flow  into  the  Mississippi !  "  they  cried. 
"  They  might  as  well  claim  all  the  countries  that  drink 
French  brandy." 

Both  nations  knew  that  a  strong  fort  built  at  the 
point  where  the  A  llegheny  joins  the  Monongahela  would 
hold  the  river,  for  no  enemies  could  sail  by  such  a  forti- 
fication. Governor  Duquesne  of  Canada  began  quietly 
to  build  forts,  each  one  a  little  nearer  this  spot.  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie  of  Virginia  was  wide  awake  and  keep- 
ing a  close  watch  on  the  doings  of  the  French.  When 
he  heard  that  a  third  fort  had  been  begun,  he  said  to 
himself,  "  That  has  gone  far  enough.  I  will  send  some 
one  to  warn  them  that  this  land  belongs  to  us." 

It  was  not  easy  to  choose  a  messenger.  The  governor 
thought  it  over.  "  It  is  a  hard  journey,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  There  will  be  ice  and  snow  and  Indians  and  all 
sorts  of  dangers.  "We  must  have  a  man  who  knows  how 
to  make  his  way  through  the  forest  and  will  not  be  afraid 
of  difficulties.  That  young  surveyor  who  has  done  so 
much  work  for  Lord  Fairfax  is  a  good  woodsman.  He 
is  cool  and  sensible,  and  whatever  he  undertakes  he  does 
well.  He  is  not  the  man  to  be  imposed  upon,  either;  and 
even  if  those  smooth  Frenchmen  treat  him  as  if  he  were 
the  king  of  France,  he  will  not  forget  what  he  was  sent 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


119 


THF  YOUNG   SURVEYOR 


for.''  There  was  something  else  to  be  careful  about.  "  It 
won't  do  to  send  any  rude,  blunt  messenger,"  thought 
the  governor.  "  Such  a  fellow  would  get  us  into  a  fight 
in  three  days.  This  young  "Washington  knows  how  to 
behave  in  a  parlor  as  well  as  in  the  forest.  The  young- 
ster is  only  twenty-one,  but  I  believe  he  is  the  man 

to  go." 

Then  the  governor  sent  for  the  young  man  and  told 
him  what  was  needed.  He  set  out  with  a  little  company 
of  white  men  and  Indians.  The  mountains  were  covered 
with  snow,  and  the  cold  November  rains  were  falling. 


120  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Drip,  drip,  came  the  water  from  the  branches  as  the  men 
pushed  on  in  Indian  file  through  the  wilderness.  For 
two  weeks  it  either  rained  or  snowed,  and  it  was  always 
cold  and  wet.  The  wind  blew  upon  them  in  tempests 
whenever  they  left  the  shelter  of  the  forest.  The  heavy 
rains  had  swollen  the  brooks  to  creeks,  and  the  creeks 
to  rivers;  but,  large  or  small,  they  must  all  be  crossed. 

At  last  Washington  saw  through  the  trees  the  gleam 
of  the  French  flag  and  smoke  rising  from  a  chimney. 
This  was  the  nearest  of  the  three  forts,  though  it  was 
hardly  a  fort  as  yet.  The  French  were  most  polite  to 
their  English  visitors;  but  they  were  exceedingly  care- 
ful not  to  say  a  word  that  would  show  what  their  plans 
were.  "  The  commander  is  at  Fort  Le  Boeuf ,"  they  said, 
"  and  the  reply  must  come  from  him.  It  is  time  for 
supper  now;  come  and  eat  with  us."  At  supper  they 
drank  a  good  deal  of  wine,  and  then  they  forgot  their 
caution.  "We  are  going  to  have  the  Ohio,"  they  de- 
clared; and  went  on  good  naturedly,  "  Of  course  you 
can  raise  two  men  to  our  one,  but  your  English  are  slow 
folk.  "We  can  build  our  forts  and  take  the  whole  coun- 
try while  you  are  getting  ready."  Washington  did  not 
boast  about  what  the  English  could  do,  but  he  wrote 
all  this  carefully  in  his  journal  to  show  to  Governor 
Dinwiddie. 

The  next  day  he  went  on  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf .    He  pre- 
sented the  governor's  letter,  which  reminded  the  French 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  121 

that  they  were  on  land  belonging  to  the  English.    The 
commander  replied,  "  I  will  send  the  letter  to  Governor 


WASHINGTON  ON  HIS  MISSION  TO  THE  OHIO 

Duquesne;  but  this  is  where  he  has  placed  me,  and  here 
I  must  stay  until  he  sends  me  somewhere  else." 

Washington  took  his  leave.  The  horses  went  so  slowly 
through  the  snow  that,  to  save  time,  he  returned  on  foot 


122  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

with  only  one  man.  The  coming  had  been  hard  enough, 
but  the  return  was  much  worse.  The  cold  had  become 
more  intense ;  the  rivers  were  full  of  floating  ice.  Wash- 
ington was  knocked  off  the  raft  into  ten  feet  of  bitterly 
cold  water,  and  had  to  spend  that  night  on  a  little  island 
without  fire  or  shelter.  There  was  danger  from  the  In- 
dians, and  more  than  once  he  was  fired  upon  by  them; 
but  he  came  out  safely  from  all  dangers  and  gave  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie  the  French  commander's  reply. 

"We  must  get  ahead  of  them,"  declared  the  governor. 
"  We  will  build  a  fort  just  where  the  Allegheny  joins 
the  Monongahela,  and  we  will  hold  the  Ohio."  So  he 
sent  men  there  to  build  the  fort;  but  the  French  drove 
them  away,  and  in  high  glee  built  a  fortification  of 
their  own  which  they  named  for  the  governor,  Fort  Du- 
quesne.  Governor  Dinwiddie  had  sent  another  band  of 
men  to  help  the  first,  with  Washington  at  its  head.  He 
heard  that  the  French  had  driven  the  first  colonists 
away  and  were  coming  to  attack  his  company.  With  his 
few  men  he  could  not  meet  them,  so  he  went  back  a 
little  way  to  wait  for  more  troops. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  few  militiamen  and  fifty  regu- 
lar soldiers  came.  Their  captain  put  on  a  great  many 
airs  because  his  regulars  were  paid  by  the  king.  "We 
belong  to  the  king's  army,"  he  declared, "  and  the  king's 
soldiers  do  not  take  orders  from  a  young  fellow  in  the 
colonial  militia."  His  men  followed  their  captain's  lead 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  i22 

and  refused  to  help  make  a  road  or  drag  the  cannon. 
They  were  soon  frightened  into  helping,  however,  for 
the  scouts  told  them  that  the  French  were  coming  upon 
them.  Then  thej  forgot  that  they  were  taking  orders 
from  a  colonial  major  and  worked  as  hard  as  they  could 
to  help  make  an  intrenchment,  dig  a  ditch,  and  cut  down 
trees  for  breastworks.  The  French  came  upon  them, 
twice  as  many  as  the  colonists.  The  fight  lasted  for  nine 
hours.  The  powder  gave  out  and  the  provisions  gave 
out.  There  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  lying  down 
behind  the  logs  and  starving  ;  so  Washington  surren- 
dered. The  French  were  jubilant.  They  had  driven  off 
the  English  and  they  held  the  Ohio. 

But  somehow  the  English  would  not  stay  driven  off. 
At  length  the  king  of  England  began  to  find  out  that 
the  French  were  trying  to  crowd  his  colonies  into  a  lit- 
tle strip  of  land  near  the  coast,  and  that  if  he  expected 
to  have  any  more  than  that  he  must  fight.  Then  he 
sent  General  Braddock  to  Virginia  with  one  thousand 
men. 

Long  before  the  vessel  came  to  the  wharf,  the  colo- 
nists could  see  the  red  coats  of  the  soldiers.  The  regu- 
lars were  with  them,  and  they  were  delighted.  Braddock 
made  Washington  one  of  his  officers,  but  he  had  no  idea 
of  listening  to  his  advice.  Washington  was  much  trou- 
bled. "  The  general  knows  how  to  fight  the  French," 
he  thought, "  but  he  seems  to  think  that  the  Indians  will 


124  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

march  out  in  line  like  white  men."  So  he  told  him 
respectfully  how  the  Indians  behaved  in  a  fight.  "  They 
hide  behind  rocks  and  trees,"  he  said,  "  and  there  will 
be  a  storm  of  bullets  when  no  one  is  in  sight." 

"Regulars  know  how  to  return  bullets,"  replied  Brad- 
dock.  "  It  would  be  a  strange  thing  if  British  troops 
could  not  meet  a  handful  of  naked  Indians." 

The  line  of  redcoats  and  of  colonial  soldiers  set  out  on 
the  long  hard  march  through  the  forest.  They  crossed 
the  Monongahela.  They  were  climbing  a  hill  when 
suddenly  shots  began  to  come  from  all  directions  and  the 
forest  echoed  with  the  yells  of  the  Indians.  The  French 
were  in  front,  the  Indians  were  on  both  sides,  but  hidden 
behind  trees.  The  regulars  were  so  dazed  at  this  new 
kind  of  fighting  that  they  ran  like  sheep.  The  colonists 
had  learned  how  to  meet  Indians,  and  so  they  hid  be- 
hind trees  and  returned  the  fire.  Even  then  Braddock 
could  not  see  that  there  was  any  other  way  to  fight  than 
the  one  he  had  learned,  and  he  shouted  to  his  men  to 
come  out  and  form  in  line.  Of  course  the  only  end  to 
such  a  battle  was  the  wild  retreat  of  the  English.  Can- 
non, provisions,  food,  arms,  clothes,  horses,  and  money 
were  forgotten  in  the  mad  rush  for  safety.  Braddock 
was  mortally  wounded  and  soon  died.  When  the  fugi- 
tives dared  to  stop,  he  was  buried  in  the  forest,  and 
wagons  were  rolled  over  his  grave  lest  the  Indians 
should  find  it. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON  125 

It  was  owing  chiefly  to  Washington's  skill  and  cool- 
ness that  any  of  the  men  escaped.  Four  bullets  were 
shot  through  his  coat,  but  he  was  not  hurt.  Afterwards 
an  Indian  chief  said,  "  He  will  never  die  in  battle.  I 
told  all  my  braves  to  aim  at  him,  but  they  could  not  hit 
him."  If  the  Indian  had  known  what  severe  fighting  lay 
before  the  young  officer,  he  might  not  have  been  so  sure 
that  Washington  would  never  die  in  battle. 

OUTLINE 

Why  the  colonies  fought  —  Governor  Duquesne  builds  forts  — 
Governor  Dinwiddie's  warning  —  choosing  a  messenger  —  Wash- 
ington's journey  through  the  forest  —  he  is  entertained  at  the 
French  fort  —  the  Frenchmen's  boast  —  Washington  at  Fort  Le 
Boeuf  —  his  return  to  Virginia  —  Governor  Dinwiddie  attempts 
to  build  a  fort  —  Washington  is  sent  to  help  the  builders  —  the 
coming  of  the  militia  and  the  regulars  —  the  attack  of  the  French 

—  General  Braddock    comes   to  Virginia  —  Washington  warns 
Braddock  —  Braddock's  reply  —  Braddock  is  conquered  and  slain 

—  Washington's  escape. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Governor  Dinwiddie  tells  Washington  what  he  is  to  do  on  his 
mission  to  the  French. 
Washington's  report  of  the  journey. 
A  colonial  soldier  describes  Braddock's  defeat. 


126  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

JAMES  WOLFE 
WHO   CAPTURED   QUEBEC 

AFTER  Braddock's  defeat  at  the  Monongahela,  the 
French  gained  battle  after  battle.  Then  they  be- 
gan to  lose  and  the  English  to  win.  There  was  only  one 
thing  which  could  end  the  war,  and  that  was  the  capture 
of  Quebec.  So  long  as  the  French  held  the  city  on  the 
rock,  they  could  laugh  at  the  attempts  of  the  English  to 
conquer  Canada  ;  and  so  long  as  they  held  the  city,  the 
English  would  never  give  up  trying  to  capture  it. 

This  was  what  an  Englishman  named  William  Pitt 
was  saying  to  himself.  He  was  prime  minister  of  Eng- 
land, and  therefore  he  had  to  make  plans  for  the  war 
and  choose  the  men  to  carry  them  out.  "  Quebec  must 
be  taken,"  he  thought,  "  and  James  Wolfe  can  take  it 
if  any  one  can." 

Wolfe  had  been  a  soldier  ever  since  he  was  a  boy  of 
fifteen.  He  was  so  earnest  and  so  eager  to  succeed 
that  some  one  once  said  to  the  king,  "  That  young  Wolfe 
is  mad." 

"  Mad,  is  he  ?  "  the  king  growled.  "  Then  I  only  hope 
he  will  bite  some  of  my  generals." 

Before  long,  Montcalm,  who  was  in  command  at  Que- 
bec, heard  that  the  English  were  coming.  "  They  can 
never  get  up  the  river  without  pilots,"  he  said  ;  but  he 


JAMES  WOLFE 


127 


was  too  good  a  soldier  not  to  make  ready  to  receive  them 
in  case  they  did  get  through  the  zigzag  channel.  Quebec 
stood  high  and  safe  on  the  great  rocky  promontory. 


JAMES  WOLFE 


Below  it  was  the  St.  Charles  River,  flowing  into  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Beyond  the  St.  Charles  was  a  steep  bank 
which  stretched  along  the  St.  Lawrence  for  seven  or 
eight  miles.  Montcalm  chained  heavy  logs  together  and 
fastened  this  "  boom  "  across  the  St.  Charles  so  no  ships 


128  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

could  sail  up  the  stream  and  attack  the  city  from  the  rear. 
He  stationed  his  forces  along  the  steep  bank.  He  built 
earthworks  and  batteries  to  make  sure  that  Wolfe  could 
not  land  at  that  place.  Then  he  waited.  After  a  long 
while  the  English  ships  were  seen.  "  They  cannot  get  up 
to  the  Isle  of  Orleans,"  declared  the  French,  and  they 
crowded  to  the  shore  to  see  them  run  upon  the  rocks. 
Behold,  the  ships  sailed  on  as  easily  as  if  they  were  in 
a  mill  pond.  That  was  no  wonder,  for  the  English  had 
captured  some  French  pilots  and  had  said  to  them,  "  You 
are  to  steer  these  vessels  up  the  river  ;  and  if  one  runs 
aground,  you  will  be  hanged."  Of  course  every  vessel 
went  through  the  channel  safely,  and  the  men  were 
landed  on  the  Isle  of  Orleans.  Wolfe  walked  to  the  far- 
ther end  of  the  island,  and  stood  looking  at  Quebec  only 
three  or  four  miles  away.  There  was  the  Lower  Town, 
that  is,  the  houses  on  the  flats  near  the  river.  Above 
that  was  the  Upper  Town  with  its  green  trees  and  gray 
stone  buildings.  Still  higher  was  the  citadel,  and  around 
it  was  a  thick  stone  wall  wherever  the  cliffs  were  not 
protection  enough.  Batteries  were  everywhere  with 
their  guns  pointing  toward  the  river,  and  Wolfe  must 
have  felt  almost  discouraged  when  he  saw  them.  Then 
he  looked  below  the  town.  There  was  the  St.  Charles 
guarded  by  the  boom  of  logs.  Beyond  it  were  the  steep 
banks,  and  along  these  banks  thousands  of  French  sol- 
diers were  encamped. 


JAMES  WOLFE  129 

"Wolfe  did  not  know  what  to  do,  but  Montcalm  knew 
precisely  what  he  would  do.  "  Wolfe  cannot  land  within 
seven  or  eight  miles  of  the  city,"  he  thought,  "  and  there 
is  no  use  in  my  going  out  to  meet  him.  Let  him  stay 
until  his  provisions  begin  to  give  out,  and  then  he  will  go 
home.  If  he  stays  a  little  too  long,  the  frost  will  catch 
him  and  he  will  be  frozen  into  the  river  as  tight  as  a 
rat  in  a  trap."  The  governor  of  the  town,  however, 
wanted  to  make  one  effort  to  destroy  the  fleet.  He  made 
his  arrangements ;  then  he  climbed  up  into  the  steeple  of 
a  church  and  stood  there  in  the  darkness  watching  the 
river  to  see  what  would  happen. 

A  little  while  before  midnight  the  English  soldiers 
saw  black,  vague  shapes  coming  slowly  toward  them. 
Suddenly  there  were  explosions,  tongues  of  fire,  sheets 
of  flame.  Missiles  hissed  and  screamed  and  roared  and 
shrieked;  muskets  and  cannon  and  bombs  exploded; 
shot  rattled  away  among  the  leaves  like  hailstones. 
These  were  the  governor's  fireships,  coming  to  burn  the 
English  fleet.  Fortunately  for  the  English,  they  had  been 
set  afire  too  soon  and  were  nowhere  near  the  fleet.  The 
English  sailors  sprang  into  their  boats,  caught  hold  of 
the  monsters  with  grappling  irons,  and  towed  them  to 
the  shore.  There  they  spluttered  and  fizzed  awhile,  and 
then  burned  out  harmlessly.  The  governor  climbed  down 
from  the  steeple  and  went  back  to  the  camp  in  the  dark, 
strangely  surprised  at  the  failure  of  his  plan,  and  won- 


130  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

dering  what  the  king  of  France  would  say  about  his 
spending  so  much  money  for  nothing. 

It  was  June  when  Wolfe  went  to  Canada.  The  sum- 
mer was  going  swiftly.  June  had  passed  ;  July  was 
almost  gone.  Still  Wolfe  thought  and  planned,  but  he 
could  not  find  any  way  to  conquer  Montcalm.  He  had 
fired  hundreds  of  shells  into  the  town,  he  had  destroyed 
many  buildings;  but  that  was  not  taking  Quebec.  He 
must  meet  Montcalm  in  battle  and  conquer  him,  and 
Montcalm  would  not  be  met.  "  The  wary  old  fellow 
avoids  battle,"  Wolfe  wrote  to  his  mother.  "  But  he 
shall  fight,"  he  said  to  himself;  and  he  determined  to 
land  his  men  on  the  shore  below  the  St.  Charles  close 
to  Montcalm's  intrenchments,  make  a  dash  up  the  bank, 
and  force  the  French  to  meet  him. 

Now  the  soldiers  had  been  waiting  week  after  week, 
and  they  were  half  wild  with  eagerness  and  impatience. 
"  Why  don't  we  do  something  ?  "  they  had  grumbled. 
When  the  first  companies  of  these  men  were  put  ashore, 
they  forgot  that  they  ought  to  wait  for  orders  or  for  the 
other  troops,  they  forgot  that  they  had  a  commander, 
they  forgot  everything  except  that  the  enemy  were  before 
them.  So  they  began  to  scramble  up  the  bank.  Of  course 
the  French  came  out  then.  Their  volleys  alone  would 
have  been  enough  to  drive  the  few  Englishmen  away; 
but  a  storm  suddenly  burst  upon  them,  and  in  a  moment 
the  bank  was  so  slippery  that  no  one  could  climb  it 


JAMES  WOLFE 


181 


'■■■.<■■         "        ' 

t  -  -    j 

^M  ■ 

[jL~— 

1  • '    ^"*%*£f-V* 

LANDING  OF  THE  BRITISH  TROOPS  ABOVE  QUEBEC 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  retreat.  The  French 
were  delighted.  "  The  war  is  as  good  as  ended/'  they 
declared.   Wolfe  was  almost  in  despair. 

Before  Wolfe  came  to  Canada,  he  had  thought  that 
he  could  go  up  the  river  beyond  Quebec,  land  his 
troops  on  some  level  fields  known  as  the  Plains  of 
Abraham,  and  attack  the  city  from  that  side.  But  when 
he  saw  the  place,  he  found  that  the  Plains  of  Abraham 
were  a  high  plateau  whose  bank  was  as  nearly  perpen- 
dicular as  a  bank  of  earth  could  be.  Still,  every  other 
attempt  had  failed,  and  September  had  come.  Wolfe 
determined  to  try  this  plan  as  a  last  hope.  Up  the  river, 
beyond  the  city,  went  the  English  warships,  though  the 
guns  of  Quebec  bellowed  and  thundered  at  them  as 
they  passed.  "  They  mean  to  try  to  land  somewhere," 
thought  Montcalm,  and  he  sent  men  to  prevent  them. 


132  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

They  did  mean  to  land  somewhere,  but  it  was  in  the 
very  place  where  Montcalm  had  felt  sure  that  no  one 
could  land.  One  dark  night  sixteen  hundred  English 
soldiers  got  into  the  small  boats  and  floated  gently  down 
the  river  toward  the  town.  Wolfe  and  some  of  his  offi- 
cers were  together  in  one  boat.  A  little  while  before, 
Wolfe  had  received  letters  from  home,  and  in  one  of 
them  was  a  beautiful  poem  that  had  recently  been  pub- 
lished, describing  rural  scenes  and  the  lives  of  country 
people.  It  is  known  as  Gray's  "  Elegy."  In  the  midst 
of  his  preparations  for  battle,  lines  of  this  poem  kept 
coming  into  Wolfe's  mind,  and  in  the  boat  that  night 
he  began,  — 

"  The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day," 
and  repeated  the  stanzas  softly  to  his  officers.    "  Gen- 
tlemen," he  said,  "  I  would  rather  have  written  those 
lines  than  take  Quebec  to-morrow." 

They  floated  on  silently,  but  nearer  and  nearer  the 
shore.  "  Who  is  there  ? "  rang  out  the  voice  of  a 
French  sentinel. 

"  France." 

"  What  is  your  regiment  ?  " 

"  The  Queen's." 

This  conversation  was  in  French,  and  the  sentinel 
never  suspected  that  a  Scotchman,  who  knew  the  lan- 
guage, was  answering  his  questions.  A  little  later  an- 
other sentinel  cried,  "  Who  is  there  ?  "  and  the  Scotch- 


JAMES   WOLFE  133 

man  replied,  "  Provision  boats.  Hush,  the  English  will 
hear  us  !  "  So  again  they  were  allowed  to  pass.  They 
came  to  shore  at  the  foot  of  the  precipice.  The  Scotch- 
man and  twenty -three  others  had  volunteered  to  go 
first.  "  If  you  can  climb  it,  the  rest  of  the  men  may 
follow,"  said  Wolfe.  He  sat  in  the  boat  listening,  but 
not  a  sound  could  he  hear  save  the  ripple  of  the  river. 
Suddenly  guns  were  fired  at  the  top  of  the  bank,  and 
the  soldiers  leaped  from  the  boats  and  tore  their  way 
up  the  steep.  Even  here  the  careful  Montcalm  had  left 
a  small  force  of  men,  but  they  were  taken  by  surprise 
and  easily  captured. 

Wolfe  had  left  some  of  his  soldiers  below  the  city, 
and  they  had  pretended  to  be  about  to  attack  Montcalm 
in  his  intrenchments.  While  the  French  were  watching 
for  them,  a  man  came  up  at  full  gallop.  "  The  English, 
the  English!"  he  cried,  "they  are  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham !  "  Montcalm  spurred  his  horse,  and  in  three 
hours  he  had  his  thousands  of  soldiers  drawn  up  on 
the  Plains  only  half  a  mile  from  the  English  lines.  The 
French  dashed  forward,  shouting  and  firing,  but  not  an 
Englishman  stirred.  When  the  French  were  forty  yards 
away,  "  Fire !  "  shouted  the  English  commanders,  and 
such  a  volley  blazed  out  as  few  armies  have  to  meet0 
This  was  the  beginning,  and  the  whole  battle  was  hardly 
more  than  a  beginning,  it  was  so  swift  and  so  soon 
ended.    The  English  had  conquered.    "  But  where  is 


134  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

the  general?"  demanded  the  men.  The  word  went 
from  line  to  line,  "  The  general  is  killed,"  and  all  their 
rejoicing  was  turned  into  sorrow.  Wolfe  had  been 
wounded  three  times.    At  the  third  blow  he  fell. 

"  Shall  I  get  a  surgeon  ?  "  asked  one  of  his  men. 

"  No,  it  is  all  over,"  he  replied,  and  closed  his  eyes. 

The  wild  retreat  had  begun,  and  an  officer  cried, 
"  See  how  they  run !  " 

That  cry  aroused  the  dying  general.  "  Who  run  ? " 
he  demanded. 

"  The  enemy !  they  give  way  everywhere !  "  was  the 
reply. 

"  God  be  praised !  "  he  said.  "  I  shall  die  in  peace." 
And  these  were  the  last  words  of  the  eager  soldier 
whose  life  had  been  passed  in  war. 

Another  brave  general  was  also  struck  by  a  fatal 
ball.  "  How  long  have  I  to  live?  "  Montcalm  asked  the 
surgeon.  "  JNot  more  than  twelve  hours,"  was  the  reply. 
"  So  much  the  better,"  said  the  wounded  man.  "  I  am 
happy  that  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  surrender  of 
Quebec." 

So  it  was  that  Quebec  and  Canada  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  English,  and  with  it  all  the  land  claimed  by  the 
French  east  of  the  Mississippi.  When  the  treaty  was 
signed,  France  was  obliged  to  give  up  all  her  posses- 
sions in  America  except  two  little  islands  in  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence. 


WHEN   PONTIAC   BESIEGED   DETROIT  135 

OUTLINE 

William  Pitt's  plan  —  Wolfe's  character  —  what  Montcalm 
thought  of  Pitt's  plan  —  preparations  to  defend  Quebec  —  Wolfe 
comes  up  the  river  —  he  looks  at  Quebec  —  Montcalm  will  not 
fight  —  the  governor's  attempt  to  destroy  the  English  fleet  — 
Wolfe's  summer  —  he  tries  to  force  a  battle  —  his  retreat  —  he 
concludes  to  adopt  his  first  plan  to  attack  the  city  —  sails  up  the 
river  —  floats  down  at  night  —  recites  Gray's  "Elegy"  —  the 
sentinels'  challenges  —  the  surprise  —  the  news  carried  to  Mont- 
calm—  the  battle  —  death  of  the  generals  —  result  of  this  vic- 
tory. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Pitt  tells  Wolfe  his  plan. 
Wolfe  describes  Quebec  and  its  defenses. 

A  French  soldier  describes  the  attempt  of  the  English  to  climb 
up  the  slippery  bank  below  the  town. 

WHEN   PONTIAC  BESIEGED  DETKOIT 

A  FTEE  Wolfe  had  captured  Quebec,  and  the  Al- 
Jl\.  gonquin  Indians  had  found  that  the  English  had 
become  the  rulers  of  Canada,  they  were  much  troubled. 
"  There  is  no  one  to  help  us  now,"  they  said.  "  The 
Iroquois  will  attack  us  and  the  English  settlers  will 
take  our  lands.   What  shall  we  do  ?  " 

A  wary  old  chief  named  Pontiac  was  thinking  the 
matter  over.  "  We  cannot  drive  the  English  into  the 
ocean/'  he  thought,  u  but  if  all  our  tribes  should  unite 


136  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

and  help  the  French,  then  the  Frenchmen  might  rule 
in  Canada  again,  and  they  would  help  us  against  all 
our  enemies."  He  sent  messengers  to  many  tribes  to 
say :  "  The  English  hate  us.  They  want  to  kill  us,  or 
drive  us  far  away  from  the  hunting  grounds  that  the 
Great  Spirit  gave  to  our  fathers.  "Will  you  join  with 
us.  to  thrust  these  enemies  of  ours  from  the  land?  The 
French  say  that  their  king  has  been  asleep,  but  that 
he  will  soon  awake  and  send  soldiers  as  many  as  the 
stars  of  the  heavens." 

Far  and  near  the  Indians  replied,  "  We  have  heard 
your  message ;  we  have  danced  the  war-dance ;  we  are 
ready  to  fight."  This  dance  was  performed  at  night. 
The  warriors  put  on  their  war-feathers  and  painted  their 
faces  with  the  colors  that  meant  war.  They  seated  them- 
selves on  the  ground  in  a  circle  around  a  painted  post, 
the  firelight  flashing  on  their  beads  and  other  orna- 
ments. Behind  them  was  the  dark  and  gloomy  forest. 
Soon  the  war-chief,  the  one  chosen  to  lead  them  to  the 
fight,  sprang  forward  and  dashed  into  the  ring.  He 
recited  the  deeds  of  the  heroes  of  the  tribe,  how  many 
enemies  they  had  slain,  how  many  scalps  they  had 
brought  home.  He  rushed  at  the  post  and  struck  it 
fiercely  with  his  hatchet  as  if  it  were  his  foe.  He  drew 
his  scalping  knife  and  pretended  to  be  taking  a  scalp. 
He  howled  and  shouted  and  yelled.  The  other  warriors 
sprang  from  their  places  and  leaped  into  the  ring.   They 


WHEN  PONTIAC  BESIEGED   DETROIT  137 

danced  wildly  about,  brandishing  knives  and  clubs  and 
hatchets  and  tomahawks.  They  whooped  and  screeched 
until  the  whole  forest  echoed  with  the  horrible  clamor. 
Then  they  were  ready  to  go  on  the  warpath. 

Pontiac  planned  that  several  of  the  principal  forts  or 


!  ? 
i     » 

-*T    •       -•     *              ■  *  Tim          >  j            jn    • 

'^P>35Ur'!*^B| 

INDIAN  DANCE 


settlements  of  the  English  should  be  attacked  on  the 
same  day.  Detroit  was  the  strongest  of  these  settle- 
ments. "  Detroit  is  mine,"  said  Pontiac.  "  I  know  how 
to  get  into  the  fort."  Now  Pontiac's  home  was  not  far 
from  Detroit.  He  and  his  braves  went  on  the  hunt  in 
the  winter;  but  when  spring  had  come,  they  returned 


138  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

to  their  village.  One  fine  spring  day  he  went  to  the 
gate  of  the  fort  at  Detroit  with  fifty  of  his  men  and 
said,  "  We  wish  to  do  honor  to  our  friends,  the  English, 
and  we  are  come  to  dance  the  calumet  dance  before  you." 
The  English  did  not  like  to  admit  so  many  Indians,  but 
finally  they  replied,  "  You  may  come  in."  The  braves 
who  did  not  dance  strolled  about  the  fort  as  the  Indian 
visitors  usually  did.  They  were  noticing  carefully  just 
how  the  streets  ran  and  where  the  houses  were  placed; 
but  the  English  paid  no  special  attention  to  what  they 
were  doing.  After  they  had  gone,  the  English  said, 
"  The  Indians  are  friendly.   There  will  be  no  trouble." 

A  little  later  a  white  woman  saw  the  Indians  filing  off 
the  muzzles  of  their  guns.  "  They  are  planning  some 
trickery,"  declared  one  of  the  settlers,  and  he  warned 
Gladwyn,  who  commanded  the  fort.  Another  warning 
came  from  a  young  Indian  girl.  "  Pontiac  and  his  chiefs 
are  coming  here,"  she  said.  "  They  have  made  their 
guns  short,  and  every  brave  will  bring  one  hidden  in  his 
blanket.  They  will  say  they  wish  to  hold  a  council  with 
the  whites,  but  when  Pontiac  gives  the  signal  with  a 
wampum  belt,  they  will  kill  every  Englishman  in  the 
fort." 

Pontiac  came  as  she  had  predicted,  and  asked  for  a 
council.  The  gates  were  flung  open,  and  he  and  his 
braves  walked  in.  Indians  do  not  like  to  show  their  feel- 
ings, but  Pontiac  was  so  taken  by  surprise  that  he  could 


WHEN  PONTIAC   BESIEGED   DETROIT  139 


UNVEILING  OF  CONSPIRACY  OF  PONTIAC,  DETROIT,  1763 
From  a  Painting  by  J.  M.  Stanley. 

not  keep  back  a  grunt  of  disappointment.  "  They  have 
found  it  out,"  he  thought;  and  well  he  might  think  so, 
for  all  the  soldiers  of  the  place,  fully  armed,  were  drawn 
up  in  line  on  either  side  of  the  entrance.  The  fort  was 
really  a  little  village  of  about  one  hundred  houses,  and 
the  council  house  was  at  the  farther  side.  The  Indians 
passed  through  the  narrow  streets  and  entered  its  doors. 
There  sat  Gladwyn  and  some  of  his  officers,  every  one 
with  sword  and  pistols. 


140  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

"  Why  do  my  father's  young  men  meet  a  friend  with 
their  guns?  "  asked  the  chief. 

"The  young  men  need  exercise  and  drill,"  replied 
Gladwyn. 

Pontiac  hesitated,  but  at  last  he  began  to  make  a 
speech.  He  told  the  English  how  much  he  loved  them 
and  what  a  true  friend  he  was.  "  I  am  come  to  smoke 
the  peace-pipe  with  you,"  he  said.  The  wampum  belt 
was  in  his  hands.  He  began  to  raise  it  as  if  to  give  a 
signal  to  his  warriors;  but  Gladwyn  also  had  a  signal. 
He  moved  his  hand,  and  in  a  moment  they  were  deaf- 
ened by  the  rolling  of  drums,  the  clash  of  arms,  and  the 
tramp  of  feet  just  outside  the  door.  Then  all  was  silence 
again.    Gladwyn  made  his  speech. 

"  We  are  your  friends,"  he  said,  "  and  we  have 
smoked  the  peace-pipe  with  you.  But  we  are  strong. 
We  have  many  guns  and  many  cannon.  Our  cannon 
speak  with  a  loud  voice,  and  they  say,  '  If  the  Indians 
are  true,  be  good  to  them ;  but  if  they  are  not  true,  kill 
them  and  burn  their  villages/  " 

"  We  are  always  the  friends  of  the  English,"  replied 
Pontiac.  "  We  shall  soon  come  again  and  bring  with 
us  our  squaws  and  our  children,  that  they  may  shake 
the  hands  of  our  fathers,  the  English." 

"  That  speech  is  worth  nothing,"  said  Gladwyn  to 
himself,  and  he  set  about  strengthening  the  palisades 
and  drilling  his  men.    Early  one  morning,  the  attack 


WHEN   PONTIAC   BESIEGED   DETROIT  141 

which  he  expected  was  made.  The  air  was  filled  with 
yells  and  shrieks.  Bullets  flew  in  showers.  Hundreds 
of  Indians  were  near  the  fort,  but  few  could  be  seen,  for 
they  were  hiding  behind  the  crest  of  a  hill.  The  sol- 
diers returned  their  fire  with  a  will,  and  they  were 
driven  away. 

Gladwyn  hoped  that  this  was  the  end  of  the  attack, 
but  the  trouble  had  only  begun.  Soon  the  Indians  came 
again,  and  this  time  they  came  to  stay.  They  made  their 
camp  a  mile  and  a  half  away.  Night  and  day  they  kept 
up  their  attack  on  the  fort.  Most  of  the  little  houses  in 
the  fort  were  thatched  with  straw,  and  the  English  did 
not  dare  to  leave  them  a  moment  unguarded,  for  the 
Indians  were  shooting  arrows  to  which  burning  rags 
were  tied.  Month  after  month  the  siege  went  on.  The 
defenders  were  worn  and  w^eary.  "  Oh,  if  the  English 
vessels  would  only  come  !  "  they  said. 

At  last  the  vessels  came.  They  could  see  the  English 
flag,  and  they  shouted  for  joy.  But  the  answer  was  the 
yell  of  savages.  The  Indians  had  seized  the  boats  and 
slain  the  white  men. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  May  when  the  siege  began. 
Week  after  week  had  passed,  and  October  had  come. 
To  besiege  a  fort  so  long  was  new  to  the  Indians,  and 
many  of  them  went  away.  Others  took  their  places, 
but  provisions  were  scarce  and  their  powder  nearly 
gone.    Then  one  of  the  chiefs  came  to  the  fort- 


142  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

"  We  are  sorry  for  what  we  have  done,"  he  said, 
"  and  we  have  brought  the  pipe  of  peace  to  smoke  with 
you.   We  have  always  been  your  friends." 

"I  did  not  begin  this  fight"  replied  Gladwyn. 
"  When  my  king  tells  me  to  stop,  I  will  stop,  and  not 
till  then;  but  I  am  willing  to  have  a  truce." 

In  reality,  Gladwyn  was  more  than  willing,  for  he, 
too,  was  short  of  provisions.  While  the  truce  lasted,  he 
got  in  as  much  food  as  possible.  It  was  all  needed,  for  it 
was  more  than  fifteen  months  from  the  beginning  of  the 
siege  to  its  end.  In  the  sixteenth  month,  the  imprisoned 
soldiers  once  more  saw  the  red  flag  of  England  on  the 
river.  They  hardly  dared  to  cheer  for  fear  of  being 
deceived  again,  but  now  all  was  well.  The  boats  were 
English  vessels  with  English  troops  on  board.  Cheer 
after  cheer  rose  from  the  fort,  and  never  was  the  sound 
of  a  cannon  more  welcome  than  that  which  they  heard 
in  reply.  The  siege  of  Detroit  was  raised.  Some  of  the 
Indians  fled,  some  begged  for  pardon.  A  little  later  a 
council  of  whites  and  Indians  was  held.  Here  Pontiac 
said,  "  I  declare,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  nations,  that  I 
have  made  peace  and  taken  the  king  of  England  for  my 
father." 

The  English  never  trusted  Pontiac,  and  whenever 
they  heard  that  he  was  among  the  French  they  were 
afraid  of  an  attack.  At  length,  an  English  fur  trader 
whispered  to  one  of  the  Illinois  Indians,  "  Do  you  want 


THE   FIRST  DAY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION         143 

a  barrel  of  rum  ?    Go  into  those  woods  and  kill  Pontiac, 

and  it  is  yours."    This  was  done,  but  fearful  revenge 

followed  the  deed,  for  Pontiac's  followers  attacked  the 

Illinois    and    destroyed    almost   their   whole    tribe.    A 

French  officer  who  had  long  been  a  friend  of  the  dead 

warrior  sent  for  his  body  and  buried  it  with  warlike 

honors. 

OUTLINE 

How  the  Algonquins  felt  at  the  capture  of  Quebec  —  Pontiac's 
plan  —  the  war-dance  —  Pontiac  visits  Detroit  —  warnings  given 
to  the  whites  —  Pontiac's  council  —  Gladwyn  prepares  for  an  at- 
tack—  Pontiac  besieges  the  fort  —  the  English  vessels  come  in 
sight  —  Indians  on  board  —  Gladwyn  grants  a  truce  —  English 
vessels  come  a  second  time  —  Pontiac's  surrender  —  murder  of 
Pontiac  —  revenge  of  his  friends. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

The  Indians  tell  stories  of  the  kindness  of  the  French. 
One  of  Pontiac's  men  describes  the  council  at  Detroit. 
An  Englishman  at  Detroit  tells  his  friends  about  the  siege. 

THE  FIKST  DAY  OF   THE   REVOLUTION" 

WHEN  Braddock  crossed  the  ocean  to  help  fight 
the  French  and  Indians,  the  colonists  were  glad 
to  see  the  red  coats  of  the  British  soldiers;  but  a  few 
years  later  they  were  angry  and  indignant  at  having 
soldiers  from  England  on  American  soil.  The  king  had 
sent  the   troops   to  Boston  because  the  colonists  had 


144  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

refused  to  obey  some  unjust  laws  that  he  had  made.  He 
thought  they  would  not  dare  to  resist  if  the  British 
regulars  were  among  them. 

The  colonists  were  angry,  but  they  were  not  fright- 
ened. "  If  we  must  fight,  we  will  get  ready,"  they  said. 
In  Miles  Standish's  time  there  had  been  companies  of 
men  that  agreed  to  start  for  battle  at  half  an  hour's 
notice.  Companies  were  now  formed  that  said  they 
would  start  at  one  minute's  notice,  and  therefore  they 
were  called  minute-men.  The  best  soldiers  cannot  do 
much  without  ammunition.  So  the  colonists  began  to 
store  in  Concord  powder  and  shot,  bombs  and  cartridge 
paper,  spades  and  pickaxes,  as  well  as  beef,  rice,  salt 
fish,  flour,  and  oatmeal. 

Paul  Revere,  a  goldsmith  and  engraver  of  Boston, 
was  at  the  head  of  thirty  men  who  made  it  their  busi- 
ness to  watch  the  British  troops  and  the  British  man- 
of-war,  the  Somerset,  anchored  out  in  the  harbor.  One 
day  they  noticed  that  there  was  bustle  and  commotion 
among  the  redcoats  on  land,  and  that  it  was  not  as 
quiet  as  usual  on  board  the  Somerset.  "  Something  is 
afoot,"  thought  these  wide-awake  colonists.  They  kept 
their  ears  open  as  well  as  their  eyes,  and  they  caught 
a  word  or  two  that  told  them  the  whole  story.  "  The 
British  are  going  to  Concord  to  destroy  our  stores," 
they  said,  "  and  to  Lexington  to  capture  our  champions, 
Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock." 


THE   FIRST  DAY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       145 

Some  little  time  before  this,  General  Gage  had  seized 
cannon  and  stores  belonging  to  the  colonists,  and  they 
did  not  mean  to  be  caught  napping  a  second  time;  so 


THE  RIDE  OF  PAUL  REVERE 


they  decided  to  send  "William  Dawes  by  way  of  Rox- 
bury  and  Paul  Revere  by  way  of  Charlestown  to  warn 
Adams  and  Hancock  and  the  farmers  who  lived  on  the 
way.    They  could  not  find  out  whether  the  troops  were 


146  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

to  march  from  Boston  by  the  Roxbury  road  or  trie 
Charlestown  road.  If  by  Roxbury,  they  would  leave 
Boston  by  land;  if  by  Charlestown,  they  would  leave  by 
water.  Revere  arranged  a  signal.  "  Hang  a  lantern  in 
the  tower  of  the  North  Church  if  they  go  by  land,"  he 
said;  "and  hang  two  if  they  go  by  water."  Then  he 
rowed  over  to  Charlestown.  On  the  shore  he  waited 
and  waited.  It  was  nine  o'clock,  ten,  eleven,  and  then 
a  faint  light  gleamed  in  the  tower.  In  a  moment  there 
was  a  second  light.    The  British  had  started  by  water. 

Then  he  sprang  upon  his  horse  and  galloped  toward 
Medford.  "Halt!"  cried  a  sharp  voice,  and  there  stood 
two  British  soldiers  on  guard,  for  Gage  had  given 
orders  that  no  colonists  should  be  allowed  to  leave 
Boston  that  night.  "  Dismount !  "  they  commanded.  But 
Revere  dashed  on.  He  roused  every  little  village  on 
the  way  and  every  farmhouse.  "  The  regulars  are  com- 
ing !  "  he  cried.    "  Get  up  and  arm !  " 

The  regulars  were  coming.  They  had  been  rowed 
across  the  Charles  River  and  were  marching  on  to  Lex- 
ington. "  Those  stupid  farmers  will  be  surprised  for 
once,"  they  said  to  one  another.  "  We  '11  wake  them 
up."  But  over  the  fields  they  began  to  see  lights  in 
the  windows  of  the  farmhouses.  They  could  hear  in  the 
darkness  the  village  bells  clanging  out  an  alarm.  Now 
and  then  a  gun  was  fired.  "  The  rebels  have  found  it 
out ! "  they  muttered.    "  Perhaps  they  do  not  know  in 


THE   FIRST   DAY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION         147 

Lexington  yet,"  thought  the  commander,  and  he  hur- 
ried his  men  onward.  But  on  Lexington  Green  were 
sixty  or  seventy  minute-men,  their  guns  in  their  hands. 


MINUTE-MEN  HURRYING  TO  CONCORD  BRIDGE 


"  Disperse,  you  villains !  You  rebels,  disperse ! "  shouted 
the  British  officer.  The  minute -men  stood  looking 
straight  at  the  soldiers.    "  Fire ! "  shouted  the  officer. 


148  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

and  the  soldiers  fired.  Eight  colonists  were  killed  and 
ten  were  wounded.  The  minute-men  returned  the  fire 
and  wounded  two  soldiers.  Another  company  of  red- 
coats was  coming  up  the  road,  and  the  colonists  re- 
treated. "  Hurrah  !  "  cried  the  soldiers.  "  Hurrah  ! 
Hurrah !  " 

Hancock  and  Adams  had  been  warned  and  had  left 
the  place.  There  was  no  hope  of  getting  them,  but  the 
stores  could  be  destroyed  at  any  rate,  thought  the  Brit- 
ish. So  they  marched  on  to  Concord.  They  found  the 
place  where  the  stores  had  been,  but  they  had  disap- 
peared,—  the  Concord  men  could  have  told  where.  The 
troops  relieved  their  minds  by  setting  the  court-house 
afire  and  knocking  in  the  heads  of  a  few  barrels  of  flour. 
Then  came  the  minute-men,  four  hundred  of  them. 
They  met  two  hundred  British  at  the  North  Bridge. 
Both  sides  fired,  then  the  colonists  charged  and  the 
British  retreated. 

It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Brit- 
ish soldiers  had  been  up  all  night.  They  had  marched 
eighteen  miles.  They  were  tired  and  hungry.  The 
commander  stayed  in  Concord  two  hours  to  give  them 
a  chance  to  rest.  He  did  not  know  how  much  the 
colonists  could  do  in  two  hours,  but  he  soon  found  out; 
for  all  this  time  the  minute-men  had  been  gathering 
from  near  and  far.  If  they  had  marched  out  in  rank  and 
file  and  stood  still  to  be  shot  at,  the  British  would  have 


THE   FIGHT  A.T  CONCORD  BRIDGE 

From  the  painting  by  Edward  Simmons  in  the  State  House  at  Boston 


150  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

won  the  day;  but  these  farmers  had  learned  a  good  deal 
from  their  wars  with  the  Indians.  Every  man  hid  behind 
a  barn  or  a  wall  or  a  rock  or  a  tree  and  fired.  The  Brit- 
ish were  as  dazed  as  Braddock's  men  had  been.  They 
ran  for  their  lives.  They  threw  away  their  guns.  The\ 
did  not  stop  even  to  pick  up  the  wounded. 

News  of  what  had  been  done  had  reached  the  British 
in  Boston,  and  twelve  hundred  of  them  with  two  cannon 
came  out  to  Lexington.  They  formed  a.  hollow  square, 
and  into  this  the  soldiers  rushed  and  flung  themselves 
on  the  grass,  completely  exhausted.  They  were  on  open 
ground,  and  the  cannon  soon  drove  the  minute-men 
away.  Indeed,  they  were  not  at  all  anxious  to  stay.  The 
British  would  have  to  start  again  before  long  and  march 
into  Boston;  they  would  do  their  fighting  then  — and 
they  did.  More  and  more  minute-men  came  from  all 
directions.  They  fired  at  the  British  from  behind,  from 
both  sides,  and  even  from  ahead.  At  first  the  British 
stopped  sometimes,  swung  their  cannon  around  and 
returned  the  fire;  but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  know  where 
to  aim  when  the  enemy  seemed  to  be  everywhere  and 
nowhere  at  the  same  time.  The  British  went  fast 
and  faster;  they  broke  into  a  wild  run.  If  they  could 
only  get  to  Charlestown,  they  thought,  the  guns  of  the 
Somerset  would  defend  them.  At  last  they  reached 
Charlestown,  but  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  of  their 
men  had  been  killed  and  wounded.     The  colonists  had 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM  151 

lost  eighty-eight.    All  this  took  place  April  19,  1775, 
and  that  date  marks  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary 

War. 

OUTLINE 

British  troops  in  Boston  —  minute-men  —  preparations  for  de- 
fense —  a  commotion  among  the  British  —  the  Americans  plan  to 
warn  the  farmers  —  Paul  Revere's  ride  —  the  regulars  march 
to  Lexington  —  the  meeting  on  Lexington  Green  —  the  march  to 
Concord  —  the  Concord  fight  —  a  two-hours'  rest  —  the  regulars 
return  to  Lexington  —  the  march  back  to  Boston. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN   WORK 

The  colonists  plan  to  form  companies  of  minute-men. 
The  talk  of  the  regulars  on  the  way  to  Lexington. 
How  the  Concord  men  hid  the  stores. 

A  British  soldier  begins  a  letter,  "  On  the  night  of  the  eigh- 
teenth of  April : "  Finish  the  letter. 

ISRAEL  PUTNAM 

SOLDIER  OF  THE   REVOLUTION 

THERE  was  once  a  boy  who  made  two  visits  to  Bos- 
ton, on  each  of  which  he  got  into  a  fight.  The  first 
time  was  when  he  was  a  little  fellow,  and  a  boy  much 
larger  than  he  kept  calling  after  him,  "  Country,  coun- 
try !  "  Thereupon  he  gave  the  saucy  Boston  boy  a  hard 
whipping,  and  went  home  to  Salem.  After  some  years 
he  married,  bought  himself  a  piece  of  land  on  top  of  a 
Connecticut  hill,  and  became  a  farmer.   He  was  as  fond 


152  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

of  his  farm  as  if  it  had  been  one  of  his  children,  and  was 
especially  proud  of  his  fine  breed  of  sheep.  One  morn- 
ing he  found  that  sixty  or  seventy  of  them  had  been 
killed  by  a  wolf.     He  and  his  neighbors  joined  in  a 

wolf -hunt  and  soon 
had  the  beast  shut 
into  its  cave.  Put- 
nam lighted  a  torch, 
went  boldly  into  the 
cave,  shot  the  crea- 
ture before  it  could 
spring  at  him,  and 
came  out  dragging  it. 
When  the  French 
and  Indian  War  broke 
out,  he  was  ready  to 
fight.  In  one  battle 
his  blanket  was  shot 
through  fourteen 
times,  but  he  was  not 
touched.  Once  the 
barracks  of  a  fort  caught  fire.  Hundreds  of  barrels 
of  powder  stood  near  them.  Neither  the  commander 
nor  any  one  else  seemed  to  have  any  idea  what  to  do. 
Putnam  was  not  there,  but  he  saw  the  smoke,  ran  to  the 
fort,  and  began  to  give  orders.  "  Form  in  line !  "  he 
cried.     "  Pass  the  buckets  along !  "   He  took  his  stand 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM  153 

between  the  powder  and  the  fire,  and  threw  on  the  buck- 
ets of  water  as  fast  as  they  could  be  passed  to  him.  The 
smoke  and  the  whirl  of  the  ashes  in  the  wind  almost  hid 
him  from  the  soldiers.  The  fire  blazed  around  him. 
His  heavy  mittens  were  burned  off  his  hands.  "  Take 
these  !  "  cried  some  one,  and  gave  him  a  pair  soaked 
with  water.  The  fire  came  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
powder.  One  partition  fell,  another  and  another.  Only 
a  thin  board  wall  stood  between  him  and  an  awful  ex- 
plosion. Still  he  did  not  run,  and  at  last  he  conquered. 
The  flames  died  down,  and  he  pulled  off  his  wet  mittens. 
The  skin  came  with  them,  and  then  for  the  first  time  he 
discovered  that  he  had  been  terribly  burned. 

Even  that  experience  was  less  dreadful  than  a  day 
that  he  spent  with  the  Indians.  His  gun  missed  fire, 
and  he  was  captured.  They  tied  him  to  a  tree  and  piled 
wood  around  him.  It  was  kindled,  and  the  flames  blazed 
up.  Then  the  Indians  sang  and  danced  and  howled 
with  delight.  A  few  minutes  more  would  have  ended 
his  life,  but  just  then  a  French  officer  appeared  on  the 
scene.  He  rushed  through  the  yelling  crowd,  kicked 
the  fire  to  pieces,  and  cut  the  bonds. 

During  this  same  war,  Putnam  was  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence with  General  Amherst  when  he  heard  the  general 
say,  "  We  could  soon  capture  the  fort  if  it  were  not  for 
the  schooner  over  there  that  protects  it." 

"  I  '11  take  the  schooner  for  you,"  Putnam  offered,  "  if 


154  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

you  '11  give  me  some  wedges  and  a  mallet,  and  let  me 
choose  half  a  dozen  men." 

The  general  was  beginning  to  find  out  that  the  Amer- 
icans had  their  own  way  of  doing  things,  and  at  length 
he  actually  gave  Putnam  permission  to  try  his  plan. 
When  night  came,  the  men  got  into  a  light  boat,  muffled 
their  oars,  and  in  the  darkness  rowed  up  to  the  stern  of 
the  schooner.  They  drove  wedges  between  the  rudder 
and  the  stern-post.  Then  they  rowed  in  the  shadow 
around  to  the  bow  and  cut  the  anchor  loose.  The 
French  soon  found  that  they  were  adrift ;  but  the  rud- 
der would  not  move,  they  were  helpless,  and  they  floated 
ashore  with  nothing  to  do  but  surrender.  The  fort  fol- 
lowed their  example. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1764,  Putnam  went  home, 
hung  up  his  sword,  swung  over  his  door  a  signboard 
with  General  Wolfe's  picture  on  it,  and  for  ten  years 
was  a  quiet  farmer  and  innkeeper.  On  the  20th  of 
April,  in  1775,  he  had  eaten  his  dinner  and  gone  out  to 
the  field  with  his  oxen.  Suddenly  he  heard  the  sound 
of  a  drum.  A  man  was  galloping  furiously  along  the 
road,  beating  his  drum  and  calling,  "  To  arms !  To  arms ! 
The  British  have  fired  upon  us !  The  country  is  ablaze ! " 
Then  Putnam  forgot  his  beloved  farm.  He  forgot  to 
say  good-by  to  his  family.  Pie  forgot  that  he  was  an 
officer,  and  was  going  to  war  without  his  uniform.  He 
forgot  everything  except  which  of  his  horses  was  the 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM 


155 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL 


swiftest.  He  leaped  upon  its  back,  and  while  the  oxen 
stood  in  the  field  waiting  patiently  for  him  to  return,  he 
was  galloping  along  the  road  to  make  his  second  visit 
to  Boston,  one  hundred  miles  away. 

The  Continental  Army  had  gathered  from  all  direc- 


156  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

tions.  The  British  were  in  possession  of  Boston.  "  We 
must  seize  those  hills,"  declared  the  British  General 
Gage,  "  if  we  are  to  stay  in  the  city." 

"  We  must  seize  those  hills,"  declared  the  Americans, 
"  if  we  are  to  drive  the  British  out  of  the  city."  Colonel 
Prescott  and  General  Putnam  marched  out  by  night  and 
began  to  fortify  Breed's  Hill  and  Bunker  Hill. 

At  daybreak  the  British  discovered  what  was  going 
on.  "We  might  take  Charlestown  ISTeck,"  said  one  offi- 
cer, "  and  starve  them  out." 

"  That 's  too  slow,"  objected  another.  "  I  believe  the 
best  way  will  be  to  charge  upon  them." 

"  Not  so  easy  to  charge  up  that  hill." 

"  Why  not  ?  They  're  only  farmers.  They  don't  know 
anything  about  fighting.  The  chances  are  that  they  will 
run  long  before  we  are  at  the  foot  of  the  hill." 

So  the  British  talked,  and  at  length  they  decided  to 
make  a  charge.  The  march  began.  The  scarlet  lines 
came  nearer  and  nearer.  Prescott  and  Putnam  were 
going  back  and  forth  among  their  men  at  the  top  of  the 
hill.  "  Remember  there  is  n't  much  powder,"  they  said. 
And  Putnam  added,  "Men,  you  know  how  to  aim.  Don't 
fire  till  you  can  see  the  whites  of  their  eyes." 

Up  the  hill  marched  the  British,  stopping  only  to 
fire;  but  the  Americans  stood  motionless.  It  seemed  to 
them  hours  before  the  word  rang  out,  "  Fire ! "  That 
fire  was  like  a  cannonade,   and  the  British,  brave  old 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM  157 

soldiers  as  they  were,  ran  pell-mell  down  the  hill. 
"  Hurrah!  hurrah  ! "  shouted  the  Americans.  The  Brit- 
ish formed  and  rushed  up  the  hill  again ;  again  the  lines 
broke,  and  they  retreated.  They  came  a  third  time,  but 
now  no  volleys  met  them;  the  powder  had  given  out. 
The  Americans  had  no  bayonets,  but  they  fought  furi- 
ously with  stones  and  the  butt  ends  of  their  muskets, 
with  clubs,  knives,  even  with  their  fists;  but  no  such 
weapons  could  withstand  British  veterans,  and  the  Amer- 
icans had  to  retreat. 

News  of  the  battle  went  through  the  colonies  like 
wildfire.  All  their  lives  the  Americans  had  looked  up 
to  the  British  regulars  as  the  greatest  of  soldiers :  and 
they,  the  untrained  colonists  who  had  never  seen  two 
regiments  in  battle,  had  twice  driven  them  back !  The 
hill  was  lost,  but  to  repulse  the  British  regulars  was 
a  mighty  victory.  Couriers  galloped  from  one  colony 
to  another  to  carry  the  news.  Everywhere  there  was 
rejoicing;  but  Putnam  could  not  bear  to  think  that 
after  such  a  fight  the  hill  had  at  last  been  given  up, 
and  he  growled  indignantly,  "  We  ought  to  have  stood. 
Powder  or  no  powder,  we  ought  to  have  stood." 

OUTLINE 

Putnam's  first  visit  tc  Boston  —  his  life  on  a  farm — the  wolf 
hunt  —  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  —  how  he  put  out  a  fire 
—  Putnam  among  the  Indians — he  captures  a  schooner  —  he 
becomes  an  innkeeper  —  what  happened  on  April  20,  1775  — 


158  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

British  and  Americans  both  determine  to  seize  the  hills  overlook- 
ing Boston  —  British  scorn  of  the  colonists  —  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  —  feelings  of  the  Americans. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  soldier  describes  Putnam's  putting  out  of  the  fire. 

Putnam's  ride  to  Boston. 

Putnam  tells  his  family  about  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 


A  CHKISTMAS   SURPRISE 

IT  was  Christmas  night  in  1776,  the  second  year  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  Hessian  soldiers 
were  making  merry  at  Trenton.  They  were  Germans 
who  had  been  hired  by  the  king  of  England  to  help  him 
conquer  the  American  rebels.  Just  then  there  was  no 
fighting  on  hand.  They  had  good  warm  quarters,  plenty 
to  eat,  and  plenty  to  drink.  They  feasted  and  they 
drank,  they  sang  songs,  and  they  told  stories.  They 
were  in  the  best  of  spirits,  for  Washington,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Americans,  was  retreating. 
"  There  won't  be  much  more  trouble  from  him,"  de- 
clared one  soldier.  "  He  had  to  leave  the  Hudson,  and 
we  have  chased  him  out  of  New  Jersey  and  into  Penn- 
sylvania." 

"  We  '11  soon  be  in  Pennsylvania  ourselves,  in  Phila- 
delphia," said  another,  "  and  that  will  be  the  end  of  the 


A  CHRISTMAS   SURPRISE 


159 


i 


WASHINGTON  AT  THE  DELAWARE 


war.    They  say  Washington's  troops  are  deserting  by 
the  hundred." 

The  carousing  went  on  until  late  in  the  night,  and 
then  the  men  went  to  their  warm  beds  and  to  heavy 
sleep. 

About  the  time  that  their  feasting  began,  Washing 
ton  marched  his  men  down  to  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Delaware.  The  ground  was  covered  with  snow.  It 
was  bitterly  cold.  The  sleet  was  driving  furiously.  The 
river  was  full  of  masses  of  floating  ice,  pitching,  tum- 
bling, and  plunging  in  the  strong  current;  but  boats 
were  waiting  at  the  shore.   They  were  rowed  by  fisher- 


160  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

men  from  Marblehead  who  knew  how  to  meet  storms. 
The  soldiers  got  into  the  boats.  The  fishermen  rowed 
and  paddled,  and  pushed  away  the  cakes  of  ice  with  long 
poles.  The  wind  blew  more  furiously,  the  sleet  was 
more  biting;  but  at  last  the  boats  came  to  the  New 
Jersey  side  of  the  river.  The  men  leaped  or  tumbled 
ashore  as  well  as  they  could  in  the  storm  and  darkness 
Then  they  swung  their  arms,  they  stamped  their  feet, 
they  marched  back  and  forth,  they  jumped,  and  they 
ran  —  anything  to  keep  from  freezing.  The  storm  was 
growing  worse;  there  was  no  shelter;  and  on  the  rivei 
bank  they  must  wait  till  the  boats  had  been  back  and 
forth  many  times  and  had  brought  the  whole  force  across. 
Ten  hours  they  waited,  all  through  that  terrible  night 
of  tempest. 

Trenton  was  nine  miles  away,  but  Washington  had 
given  the  word  to  march  on.  One  man  was  frozen  to 
death,  and  a  little  later  a  second  was  overcome  by  the 
cold.  "  The  muskets  are  wet  and  cannot  be  fired,"  an 
officer  reported. 

"  Use  the  bayonets,  then,"  replied  Washington;  "  the 
town  must  be  taken."  And  he  pushed  on  toward  Tren- 
ton. He  divided  his  men  into  two  parties,  and  in  the 
early  gray  of  the  morning  they  entered  the  town  by 
two  different  roads. 

Washington  planted  his  cannon  so  as  to  sweep  the 
streets.    The  Hessians  rushed  out,  almost  dazed  by  the 


A  CHRISTMAS   SURPRISE  161 

sudden  attack.  They  ran  in  one  direction,  and  a  volley 
of  musket  balls  met  them;  they  ran  in  another,  and  the 
cannon  mowed  them  down;  in  another,  and  a  bayonet 
charge  drove  them  back.  The  commander  ran  out  half- 
dressed  and  tried  to  form  his  lines,  but  he  was  shot 
down.  In  one  hour  Washington  was  master  of  the 
place.  He  had  lost  two 
men,  and  he  had  taken 
nearly  one  thousand  pris- 
oners. 

The  British  general, 
Cornwallis,  was  in  New 
York,  getting  ready  to 
return  to  England;  for 
he  thought  the  rebellion 
of  the  colonies  was  so 
nearly  over  that  he  need 
not  stay  in  America  any 
longer.  The  news  from 
Trenton  was  an  unplea- 
sant surprise,  but  he 
started  out  promptly  to 
crush  that  troublesome 
Washington,  who  never 
seemed  to  understand 
that  he  was  beaten  and  who  would  not  stay  beaten. 

Cornwallis  had  more  men  than  the  Americans,  and 


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A  HESSIAN  GRENADIER 


162  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

Washington  did  not  want  to  fight  a  battle  with  him. 
"  Cornwallis  will  come  upon  us,  but  keep  him  away  as 
long  as  you  can,"  was  Washington's  order  to  part  of  his 
troops;  and  therefore  the  British  had  a  hard  time  in 
their  march  across  New  Jersey  to  Trenton.  A  storm  of 
bullets  would  come  suddenly  from  some  little  thicket 
on  one  side  of  the  road;  and  by  the  time  the  trees  had 
been  well  peppered  with  British  shot,  another  leaden 
storm  would  come  from  some  thicket  on  the  other  side. 
A  few  hundred  men  with  two  cannon  were  continually 
attacking  him  in  front.  He  could  make  them  retreat, 
but  he  could  not  make  them  hurry;  and  it  was  late  in 
the  afternoon  when  he  came  to  Trenton.  Washington 
was  not  in  the  town,  but  just  across  a  stream  that  flows 
into  the  Delaware.  The  troops  that  had  been  such  a 
torment  to  Cornwallis  retreated  across  the  bridge  and 
joined  their  comrades. 

The  British  officers  said,  "Let  us  attack  him  at  once." 
But  Cornwallis  replied,  "  'No,  our  men  are  tired  out,  and 
it  will  soon  be  dark.  He  is  safe  enough.  In  the  morning 
we  shall  have  two  thousand  more  troops,  and  we  can 
shut  him  in  between  the  stream  and  the  Delaware.  He 
will  have  to  surrender,  and  then  the  rebellion  will  be 
over."  He  wrote  a  letter  home  which  said,  "  We  have 
run  down  the  old  fox,  and  we  will  bag  him  in  the 
morning." 

There  seemed  nothing  that  Washington  could  do  but 


A  CHRISTMAS   SURPRISE  163 

prepare  to  fight.  All  night  long  his  camp-fires  burned 
along  the  south  side  of  the  stream.  The  British  senti- 
nels on  the  north  side  could  see  the  men  piling  on  wood, 
they  could  hear  the  noise  of  spades  and  pickaxes,  they 


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. 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  COLONEL  RALL  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  TRENTON 

could  even  hear  the  soldiers  talking  together.  But  when 
it  began  to  grow  light,  the  British  found  that  Wash- 
ington and  his  army  had  slipped  away  quietly  in  the 
middle  of  the  night.  A  few  men  had  remained  behind 
to  keep  the  fires  burning  and  make  as  much  noise  as 
possible  with  their  spades  and  pickaxes;  but  they,  too, 
were  gone.    They  had  run  through  the  woods  and  joined 


164  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

their  commander.  The  British  were  welcome  to  the 
gravel  that  had  been  shoveled  up  and  to  the  ashes  of 
the  camp-fires,  but  nothing  else  was  left  for  them. 
While  Cornwallis  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  gaz- 
ing across  at  the  deserted  camp,  he  heard  the  booming 
of  cannon  ten  miles  away.  "  That  was  from  Princeton," 
he  thought.  "The  old  fox  is  there  already,  and  he  will 
try  to  destroy  our  stores  at  Brunswick." 

This  was  exactly  what  Washington  had  planned  to 
do.  At  Princeton  he  met  the  British  forces  just  start- 
ing to  go  and  help  Cornwallis  conquer  him.  There  was 
a  sharp  fight,  and  the  Americans  won  the  day.  Corn- 
wallis was  in  pursuit,  of  course,  but  there  were  several 
streams  between  the  armies.  They  were  badly  swollen 
by  a  sudden  thaw,  and  Washington  had  unkindly  burned 
the  bridges.  The  British  marched  with  dripping  uni- 
forms into  the  streets  of  Princeton,  but  Washington 
was  not  there.  He  had  hoped  to  go  on  to  Brunswick, 
but  his  men  were  too  tired  and  too  nearly  barefooted 
for  a  march  of  eighteen  miles.  So  he  made  his  way  to 
the  heights  of  Morristown,  and  there  he  was  safe  for  the 
winter. 

OUTLINE 

The  Hessians  at  Trenton  —  the  Christmas  celebration  —  the 
soldiers  talk  of  Washington  —  Washington  crosses  the  Delaware 
—  the  storm  —  waiting  on  the  shore  —  the  march  to  Trenton  — 
the  capture  of  Trenton  —  Cornwallis  pursues  Washington  to  the 


A  WINTER  AT  VALLEY  FORGE       165 

Delaware  —  Cornwallis  postpones  his  attack  —  Washington  slips 
away  —  the  battle  of  Princeton  —  Washington  goes  to  Morris- 
town. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

One  of  Washington's  soldiers  describes  the  crossing  of  the 
Delaware. 

A  Hessian  soldier  tells  the  story  of  Christmas  night. 

The  letter  that  Cornwallis  wrote  home  on  Christmas  Eve,  and 
the  postscript  that  he  added  the  day  after  Christmas. 


A  WINTER  AT  VALLEY  FOKGE 

DURING  the  Revolution  the  British  had  the  idea 
that  it  would  be  a  great  thing  if  they  could  take 
Philadelphia.  They  called  it  "  the  rebel  capital,"  be- 
cause Congress  had  met  there;  and  they  did  not  seem 
to  realize  that  Congress  could  easily  meet  somewhere 
else.  They  marched  into  the  city  with  colors  flying  and 
bands  playing,  and  Washington  could  not  prevent  them. 
When  they  were  once  in,  the  best  thing  for  him  to  do 
was  to  see  that  they  did  not  get  out  to  do  any  mischief; 
and  so  he  chose  for  his  winter  quarters  Yalley  Forge, 
a  place  only  a  few  miles  from  Philadelphia.  There  he 
could  easily  defend  himself  if  he  was  attacked,  and  he 
could  keep  close  watch  of  the  British. 

It  would  have  been  easier  to  fight  many  battles  than 
to  spend  that  winter  in  Yalley  Forge.   It  was  December, 


166  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

and  there  was  no  shelter  of  any  kind.  Men  and  officers 
set  to  work  bravely  to  build  huts  for  themselves.  These 
huts  were  of  all  sorts.  Some  were  built  of  heavy  logs. 
Their  roofs  were  made  of  small  trees  wrapped  with 
straw  and  laid  side  by  side.  Clay  was  spread  on  top  of 
the  straw,  and  splints  were  laid  on  top  of  that.  The 
windows  were  simply  holes  cut  through  the  logs  and 
covered  with  oiled  paper. 

A  house  like  this  was  looked  upon  as  the  height  of 
luxury.    Most  of  the  huts  were  made  of  sods  piled  up, 


*    4r>    **  * 


WASHINGTON'S  HEADQUARTERS  AT  VALLEY  FORGE 

or  fence  rails  or  poles  held  together  by  twigs  twisted  in 
and  out  and  daubed  with  clay.  The  snow  sifted  in  at 
every  little  opening,  the  rain  dripped  through  even  the 


A  WINTER  AT  VALLEY   FORGE  167 

best  of  the  roofs,  and  the  wind  howled  and  roared  and 
blew  in  at  every  crevice.  There  were  few  blankets,  and 
many  brave  defenders  of  their  country  lay  on  the  frozen 
ground  because  they  had  not  even  straw  to  put  under 
them.  Sometimes  they  sat  up  all  night,  crowding  up  to 
the  fires  to  keep  from  freezing. 

They  were  no  better  off  for  clothing  than  for  houses. 
The  whole  army  was  in  rags,  which  the  soldiers'  most 
skillful  mending  could  hardly  hold  together.  Many  of 
the  men  had  no  shirts,  even  more  were  without  shoes. 
"Wherever  they  walked,  the  snow  was  marked  with 
blood.  Some  cut  strips  from  their  precious  blankets, 
and  wound  them  about  their  feet  to  protect  them  from 
the  frozen  ground.  Food  was  scanty;  sometimes  for 
several  days  they  were  without  meat,  and  some  com- 
panies were  once  without  bread  for  three  days.  When 
the  word  went  around,  "  No  meat  to-night,"  the  soldiers 
groaned,  but  they  never  yielded. 

The  cause  of  these  hardships  was  the  fact  that  Con- 
gress had  no  power.  It  could  say  to  a  state,  "  We  need 
money  for  the  army,  and  your  share  will  be  so  much ;  " 
but  if  the  state  did  not  choose  to  pay  the  tax,  Congress 
could  not  force  it  to  pay.  It  is  said  that  while  these 
brave  soldiers  were  suffering  in  their  rags,  whole  hogs- 
heads of  clothes  and  shoes  and  stockings  were  waiting 
at  different  places  on  the  roads  until  money  to  pay  for 
teaming  could  be  found.    Sometimes  the  soldiers  them- 


168  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

selves  took  the  places  of  horses  and  oxen,  and  when 
they  could  learn  of  any  supplies,  dragged  the  wagons 
into  camp. 

Washington  shared  all  this  suffering  with  his  men, 
and  he  had  even  more  to  bear  from  fault-finders.  The 
Pennsylvania  legislature  thought  he  ought  not  to  shel- 
ter his  men  in  huts  at  Yalley  Forge.  "  Why  does  n't  he 
camp  out  in  tents  in  the  open  field,"  they  demanded, 
"  and  attack  the  British  ?  "  This  was  too  much  for  even 
Washington's  patience,  and  he  wrote  a  blunt  letter  to 
the  legislature,  telling  them  how  little  they  were  doing 
for  the  army.  He  said  it  was  much  easier  to  find  fault 
"  in  a  comfortable  room  by  a  good  fireside  than  to  camp 
upon  a  cold,  bleak  hill  and  sleep  under  frost  and  snow 
without  clothes  or  blankets." 

Not  all  the  soldiers  were  Americans  by  any  means. 
Some  of  them  were  foreigners  who  had  come  to  America 
to  get  what  they  could  out  of  the  country  ;  but  there 
were  also  many  who  came  because  they  believed  that  the 
United  States  was  in  the  right,  and  they  wanted  to  help 
her  win  her  independence.  One  of  these  true  friends  was 
a  young  Frenchman,  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  For 
some  time  the  Americans  had  been  trying  to  persuade 
France  to  help  them,  but  Lafayette  could  not  bear  to 
wait  for  his  country  to  act.  "  The  moment  I  heard  of 
America,  I  loved  her,"  he  wrote.  He  fitted  out  a  ship 
at  his  own  cost  and  crossed  the  ocean.    Then  he  asked 


A  WINTER  AT  VALLEY   FORGE  169 

two  "favors "of  Congress,  —  to  serve  as  a  volunteer,  and 
to  pay  his  own  expenses.  Congress  made  him  an  officer, 
although  he  was  only  nineteen.  He  won  the  heart  of  the 
commander-in-chief  at  their  first  meeting,  and  from  that 
day  Washington  trusted  him  as  he  trusted  few  people. 


WASHINGTON  AND  LAFAYETTE  AT  VALLEY  FORGE 

Lafayette  was  rich,  a  nobleman,  and  a  favorite  at  the 
French  court.  He  had  lived  in  luxury  all  his  days;  but 
he  shared  with  Washington  the  hard  life  at  Valley 
Forge,  never  complaining,  always  bright  and  cheerful. 
All  this  time  he  was  writing  letters  home,  which  did 
much  to  bring  about  something  that  delighted  Washing- 


170  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

ton  and  "  the  boy,"  as  the  British  scornfully  called  La- 
fayette. Word  came  across  the  sea  that  the  French 
king  had  decided  to  help  America.  Then  there  was 
rejoicing  at  gloomy  Valley  Forge.  A  day  of  thanks- 
giving was  appointed.  Prayer  was  offered,  the  troops 
were  reviewed,  thirteen  cannon  were  fired,  and  at  a 
signal  the  whole  army  shouted,  "  Long  live  the  king 
of  France ! " 

The  French  government  had  asked  many  questions 
about  the  American  army.  The  answer  was  always  the 
same,  "  They  are  brave  and  patient  and  determined,  but 
they  lack  drill  and  discipline.  They  are  splendid  fight- 
ers, but  they  need  to  be  taught  how  to  fight  together." 
There  was  a  Prussian  officer,  Baron  von  Steuben,  who 
was  better  prepared  than  any  one  else  to  teach  what  the 
army  ought  to  know,  and  the  French  persuaded  him  to 
cross  the  ocean. 

The  baron  was  amazed  when  he  went  to  Valley 
Forge  and  saw  the  miserable  little  huts  and  the  starv- 
ing, half -naked  men.  "  There  is  not  a  commander  in 
Europe  who  could  keep  troops  together  a  week  if  they 
were  suffering  like  this,"  he  declared.  There  was 
hardly  any  artillery  and  almost  no  cavalry.  Many  of 
the  guns  were  not  fit  to  use.  Few  of  them  had  bayo- 
nets. That  was  a  small  matter,  however,  for  the 
soldiers  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  bayonets,  and 
had  used  them  chiefly  to  broil  meat  with  —  when  they 


A  WINTER  AT  VALLEY  FORGE  171 

were  so  fortunate  as  to  have  any  meat.  Baron  von 
Steuben  was  horrified.  He  drilled  and  drilled.  One 
minute  he  stormed  at  the  ignorance  of  the  men,  and 


BARON  VON  STEUBEN 


the  next  he  praised  their  quickness  in  learning  some 
difficult  movement.  Then  at  their  next  blunder  he 
stormed  again  in  a  comical  mixture  of  German   and 


172  AMERICAN   HERO    STORIES 

French  and  English.  In  spite  of  his  scoldings,  how- 
ever, he  was  devoted  to  the  men  and  exceedingly 
proud  of  them.  During  that  cruel  winter  many  fell 
ill,  and  the  hot-tempered  baron  went  about  from  one 
wretched  hut  to  another,  doing  everything  that  he  could 
to  help  and  cheer  them.  It  is  no  wonder  that  they  loved 
him  and  were  eager  to  learn. 

The  terrible  winter  at  Valley  Forge  came  to  an  end 
at  last.  Out  of  the  cold  and  hunger  and  sickness  and 
suffering  an  army  came  forth  that  was  stronger  than 
before,  an  army  that  was  "  never  beaten  in  a  fair  fight." 

OUTLINE 

The  British  march  into  Philadelphia,  and  Washington  encamps 
at  Valley  Forge  —  the  huts  at  Valley  Forge  —  the  need  of  blan- 
kets, clothes,  and  food  —  the  cause  of  these  hardships  —  grum- 
bling of  the  fault-finders  — Washington's  reply  —  foreign  soldiers 
—  Lafayette  —  France  promises  help  —  the  rejoicing  at  Valley 
Forge  —  character  of  the  American  army  —  the  coming  of  Von 
Steuben  —  the  condition  of  the  soldiers  —  Von  Steuben  drills 
them — his  kindness  to  them. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  soldier  tells  his  children  of  his  hut  at  Valley  Forge ;  of  La- 
fayette ;  of  Von  Steuben. 


HOW  "MAD  ANTHONY"  TOOK  STONY  POINT     173 

HOW  "MAD  ANTHONY"   TOOK   STONY 

POINT 

IN  the  Revolutionary  War  the  British  were  especially 
anxious  to  get  possession  of  the  Hudson  River.  If 
they  could  only  hold  that,  they  could  separate  the 
American  army  into  two  parts,  one  in  New  England 
and  one  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  Neither 
part  could  get  out  of  its  corner,  and  the  British  could 
conquer  first  one  and  then  the  other.  In  their  first 
attempt  to  capture  the  Hudson  they  failed.  Nearly  two 
years  later  they  seized  a  fort  on  the  river  at  Stony 
Point.  Then  they  began  to  send  parties  of  soldiers  to 
burn  towns  and  kill  Americans  in  Connecticut. 

Washington  thought,  "  The  British  want  me  to  send 
my  men  to  protect  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and  when 
my  soldiers  are  fighting  there,  they  will  take  more  forts 
on  the  Hudson.  I  will  not  send  my  men  away,  but  I 
will  storm  the  fort  at  Stony  Point,  and  then  the  British 
will  have  to  leave  Connecticut  to  help  the  army  in  New 
York." 

Stony  Point  was  "  little  but  mighty."  It  was  on  a 
high  point  of  land  that  ran  out  into  the  Hudson,  and 
it  wTas  cut  off  from  firm  land  by  a  swamp.  Across 
the  swamp  ran  a  raised  walk,  but  even  this  was  over- 
flowed by  the  tide  twice  a  day.     The  Americans  had 


174  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

begun  this  fort;  then  the  British  had  captured  it  and 
done  everything  they  could  to  make  it  strong.  They 
had  piled  entirely  around  it  two  rows  of  logs,  rocks, 
briers,  earth,  or  whatever  else  would  be  hard  to  cross. 
Farther  up  the  hill  were  fortifications  fairly  bristling 
with  cannon.  More  than  six  hundred  British  were 
guarding  the  place.  Such  was  the  fort  that  Washing- 
ton determined  must  be  taken. 

Who  should  be  the  leader?  The  fort  must  be  cap- 
tured by  a  sudden  dash;  a  man  was  needed  who  was 
not  afraid  of  guns  or  soldiers,  and  he  must  be  cool 
enough  to  think  while  balls  were  flying  and  bombs  were 
exploding  around  him.  "  Anthony  Wayne  is  the  one," 
thought  Washington.  "  He  does  not  know  what  it 
means  to  be  afraid,  and  he  always  has  his  wits  about 
him.  He  '11  storm  anything  on  earth.  If  Stony  Point 
can  be  taken,  he  will  take  it." 

Soldiers  always  nickname  their  favorite  generals,  and 
General  Wayne  they  called  "  Mad  Anthony  "  because 
he  was  so  daring.  They  were  ready  to  follow  him  any- 
where. When  the  night  came  that  Washington  had  set, 
Wayne  and  his  troops  marched  in  Indian  file  silently 
up  the  bank  of  the  Hudson.  They  came  near  enough 
to  the  black  fort  to  hear  the  sentinel  call,  "  Twelve 
o'clock !  All 's  well ! "  They  crept  on  softly.  It  was 
high  tide,  and  the  swamp  was  a  pond;  but  they  marched 
straight  in.    Then  the  alarm  was  given.    There  was  a 


HOW  "MAD  ANTHONY »  TOOK  STONY  POINT  175 
clash  of  arms,  a  firing  of  muskets,  a  terrific  blaze  of 
cannon;  but  the  Americans  pressed  on  as  if  the  tempest 
of  grapeshot  were  only  a  summer  shower.  Every  man 
knew  his  place  and  his  work.  They  formed  in  two  col- 
umns, each  headed  by  twenty  men  with  axes,  whose 
business  it  was  to  clear  a  way  through  the  logs  and  rub- 
bish. They  were  mowed  down  by  the  grapeshot,  but  their 
work  was  done,  and  the  two  columns  rushed  in  through 
the  two  gaps  that 
they  had  made.  In 
the  cap  of  every 
man  was  a  bit  of 
white  paper,  so  that 
in  the  darkness  he 
would  not  be  mis- 
taken for  an  ene- 
my. Not  a  gun  was 
loaded.  Such  forts 
as  Stony  Point  are 
not  taken  by  mus- 
ket-balls. One  col- 
umn tore  up  the 
hill  from  the  right; 
General  Wayne 
headed  the  other  from  the  left.  He  was  struck  by  a 
ball  and  fell.  But  his  voice  rang  out  in  the  horrible 
tumult,  "  Carry  me  into  the  fort,  for  I  will  die  at  the 


ANTHONY  WAYNE 


176  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

head  of  my  column !  March  on ! "  They  caught  him  up 
and  dashed  forward. 

Nothing  could  drive  them  back.  They  swarmed 
over  the  ramparts.  They  fought  their  way  with  better 
weapons  than  powder  and  shot.  They  were  like  a  mov- 
ing wall  of  bristling  steel,  for  Baron  von  Steuben  had 
taught  them  how  to  use  bayonets.  The  attack  was  so 
sudden,  so  well  planned,  so  irresistible  that  nothing 
could  turn  them.  In  a  few  minutes  Wayne's  column 
was  in  the  centre  of  the  fort,  and  in  front  of  them  was 
the  other  line  that  had  come  up  the  other  side  of  the 
hill.  There  was  no  silence  then,  but  wild  shouts,  "Hur- 
rah !  hurrah !  hurrah  !  "  The  fort  was  theirs,  and  the 
British  garrison  were  their  prisoners.  Cannon,  muskets, 
balls,  powder,  provisions  were  all  in  their  hands.  The 
general's  wound  was  not  so  serious  as  he  had  thought, 
and  he  lived  to  do  much  more  brave  fighting  for  his 
country. 

The  capture  of  the  British  stronghold  without  the 
firing  of  a  gun  was  talked  over  in  every  camp.  Baron 
von  Steuben  cried,  "  That  is  good,  that  is  good.  Now 
we  are  beginning  to  walk!"  From  Philadelphia  came  a 
letter  to  Wayne  which  said,  "  You  will  be  stunned  with 
your  own  praises.  Our  streets  for  many  days  rang 
with  nothing  but  the  name  of  General  Wayne.  You 
are  remembered  constantly  next  to  our  good  and  great 
Washington ! " 


HOW  "MAD  ANTHONY"  TOOK  STONY  POINT     177 


THE  STORMING  OF   STONY  POINT 
"  Carry  uie  into  the  fort,  for  I  will  die  at  the  head  of  my  column  !  " 

One  story  that  shows  how  quickly  Wayne  could  see 
what  was  the  best  move  to  make  ought  to  be  told  here. 
He  was  in  Virginia  just  before  the  end  of  the  war. 
"  The  British  have  crossed  the  river.  Only  a  small  rear- 


178  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

guard  are  left  on  this  side.  Attack  them !  "  This  was 
the  order  given  to  him.  He  marched  straight  toward 
the  British  lines ;  but  some  one  had  made  a  mistake ;  be- 
fore him  was  no  rear-guard,  but  the  whole  force  of  the 
British  army,  and  he  had  only  seven  hundred  men !  The 
enemy  was  already  coming  toward  him.  There  were  two 
or  three  things  that  he  could  do.  He  could  surrender; 
but  he  objected  to  surrenders.  He  could  retreat;  but 
the  British  were  in  line  ready  to  pursue,  and  he  would 
be  captured  before  he  could  fairly  get  to  running.  He 
could  charge  upon  the  great  army  and  go  down  in  his- 
tory as  a  man  who  would  rather  die  than  yield;  but  he 
preferred  to  stay  alive  and  strike  a  few  more  blows  at 
the  British.  In  a  moment  he  had  decided.  "  Charge  !  " 
he  commanded,  and  the  little  band  dashed  forward  so 
fearlessly  that  Cornwallis,  the  British  commander,  sup- 
posed a  large  force  was  behind  them  and  began  to  bring 
his  men  together  to  repulse  a  general  attack.  Five  min- 
utes more,  and  he  would  have  learned  his  mistake;  but 
Wayne  did  not  give  him  the  five  minutes.  The  instant 
that  Cornwallis  had  set  his  men  in  motion,  Wayne  cried, 
"  About  face !  "  And  before  the  enemy  had  discovered 
what  had  happened,  he  was  retreating  in  safety. 

There  are  many  such  stories  as  these  of  "  Mad 
Anthony,"  the  man  who  would  dash  upon  the  enemy 
like  a  tornado,  and  be  as  clear-headed  in  the  midst  of  a 
battle  as  in  his  own  home. 


THE  "  SWAMP  FOX  "  179 

OUTLINE 

Why  the  British  wished  to  hold  the  Hudson — their  object  in 
sending  men  to  Connecticut  —  Washington  plans  to  take  Stony 
Point  —  situation  of  Stony  Point  —  the  choice  of  a  leader  —  why 
called  "Mad  Anthony"  —  the  march  to  the  fort  —  the  attack  — 
Wayne  is  wounded  —  using  the  bayonets  —  capture  of  the  fort  — 
praise  of  the  soldiers  —  the  story  of  Wayne's  charging  the  British 
army. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN   WORK 

Washington  tells  his  plan  for  storming  Stony  Point  to  "  Mad 
Anthony,"  and  asks  him  if  he  will  take  the  lead. 
The  march  up  the  Hudson. 
A  British  soldier  who  was  at  Stony  Point  describes  the  attack. 


HOW  THE   "SWAMP  FOX"  MADE    THE 
BRITISH  MISERABLE 

AFTER  the  British  had  been  trying  for  four  years 
to  conquer  America  and  had  not  succeeded,  they 
concluded  that  it  would  be  an  excellent  plan  to  begin 
at  the  south  and  work  toward  the  north.  They  did  not 
find  this  an  easy  thing  to  do,  and  they  had  an  especially 
hard  time  in  South  Carolina,  all  because  of  a  slender, 
dark,  silent,  courteous  little  gentleman  named  Francis 
Marion. 

Marion  brought  together  a  few  men  and  proceeded  to 
make  the  enemy  miserable.    He  had  no  money  for  uni- 


180  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

forms,  and  his  men  wore  whatever  they  could  get.  For 
arms,  they  carried  anything  that  looked  like  a  gun;  and 
if  they  wanted  swords,  they  took  saws  to  the  country 
blacksmith  and  had  them  hammered  into  weapons  which 
were  not  very  handsome,  but  which  they  knew  how  to 
make  useful.  For  bullets  they  melted  pewter  dishes  and 

ran  the  metal  into 
moulds.  When  there 
was  nothing  better, 
they  used  buckshot 
or  even  swanshot. 
For  rations  they  ate 
whatever  they  could 
get;  Marion  himself 
could  live  for  weeks 
on  hominy  or  rice  or 
potatoes.  They  had 
no  pay,  no  hope  of 
promotion,  hardly 
any  blankets ;  but 
they  had  horses  that 
could  go  like  the  wind,  they  had  keen  wits  and  muscles 
that  were  like  steel,  and  they  were  devoted  to  their 
country. 

These  were  the  men  who  were  such  a  torment  to  the 
British.  No  one  ever  knew  where  they  were.  No  one 
could  tell  how  to  avoid  them.   When  twilight  came, 


FRANCIS  MARION 


THE  "SWAMP  FOX"  181 

Marion  gave  the  order  and  they  started  for  somewhere, 
he  alone  knew  where.  Sometimes  they  waded  through 
a  swamp,  sometimes  crept  through  fields  and  valleys 
close  to  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  sometimes  galloped 
fearlessly  along  the  open  road,  sometimes  stealthily 
followed  on  the  track  of  the  hostile  lines.  If  ever 
any  company  of  soldiers  straggled  away  from  the  main 
army,  then  let  them  look  out  for  Marion  and  his  men ! 
There  would  be  a  sudden  rush  from  some  valley  or 
thicket,  the  bullets  would  fly  from  all  sides,  and  in 
five  minutes  those  that  had  not  been  shot  would  find 
themselves  prisoners.  Wherever  Marion's  men  went, 
some  deed  of  daring  always  ended  their  journey.  Once 
Marion  actually  galloped  into  a  village  where  a  com- 
pany of  the  enemy  were  encamped  and  seized  the  com- 
mander. There  were  not  always  guns  enough  to  go 
around.  Then  the  men  waited  patiently  or  fought  with 
their  blacksmith  swords  till  guns  could  be  taken  from 
the  enemy.  One  night  Marion's  scouts  reported,  "  Some 
British  soldiers  are  coming  down  by  the  river  to-mor- 
row, and  they  will  have  with  them  one  hundred  and 
fifty  American  prisoners."  "  Forward  march !  "  com- 
manded Marion.  He  knew  that  the  British  w^ould  have 
to  go  through  a  narrow  pass.  He  took  possession  of 
this,  and  when  they  came  along  early  in  the  morning, 
his  men  attacked  them  both  in  front  and  behind  so  sud- 
denly that  they  lost  their  heads  completely.    They  fired 


182  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

once  and  then  forgot  their  prisoners  and  ran  for  their 
lives,  while  the  rescuers  laughed  to  see  them  go. 

Marion  could  look  upon  the  British  soldiers  as  men 
who  were  doing  what  they  thought  was  their  duty,  but 
he  had  no  patience  with  the  Tories,  as  those  Americans 
were  called  who  stood  by  the  king.  If  any  Tories  tried 
to  hold  a  meeting,  Marion  was  sure  to  find  it  out,  and 
his  bullets  would  go  rattling  among  them.  If  he  could 
hear  of  a  Tory  camp,  his  men  would  fall  upon  it  like  a 
whirlwind.  Once  after  such  a  raid,  one  of  his  boldest 
riders  chased  the  Tory  commander  at  full  gallop  till 
both  were  far  away  from  the  rest  of  Marion's  men.  The 
other  Tories,  too,  were  fleeing  for  their  lives;  but  sud- 
denly they  turned.  This  pursuer  saw  nothing  but  the 
man  whom  he  was  chasing  until  in  a  moment  he  found 
the  whole  Tory  force  coming  upon  him.  He  did  not 
hesitate  an  instant,  but  waved  his  sword  and  shouted 
over  his  shoulder,  "Come  on,  boys;  here  they  are!  " 
and  then  charged.  The  Tories  never  dreamed  that  he 
was  alone,  and  they  ran  away  faster  than  ever,  lest  they 
should  be  captured  by  the  terrible  "  Swamp  Fox." 

Marion's  headquarters  were  on  an  island  in  the  Pedee 
River.  There  the  horses  were  always  saddled,  the  men 
always  ready.  More  volunteers  flocked  to  this  island, 
as  daring,  fearless,  and  devoted  as  his  first  followers. 
When  they  wished  to  go  home,  they  went.  No  authority 
ever  brought  them  back,  but  they  always  returned. 


THE  "SWAMP  FOX"  183 

Marion  was  not  always  fortunate.    His  island  encamp- 
ment was  utterly  destroyed,  and  for  once  he  was  dis« 


MARION  ON  A  RAID 


couraged.  "  Go  to  my  men,"  he  said.  "  Tell  them  I  may 
be  forced  to  the  mountains,  and  ask  them  if  they  will 
stand  by  me  till  the  British  are  driven  from  the  land." 


184  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

The  answer  came  back,  "  Every  man  will  stand  by  you 
till  death."  Then  Marion  was  ready  for  anything.  He 
set  out  to  help  General  Lee  capture  a  fort.  At  first 
matters  looked  almost  hopeless.  There  stood  the  fort 
forty  feet  above  them,  safe  and  strong  on  a  little  mound. 
It  would  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  the  gar- 
rison to  shoot  any  number  of  men  trying  to  storm  it. 
One  of  Marion's  followers  thought  of  a  plan.  At  the 
word  of  command,  they  all  disappeared  into  the  forest. 
For  five  days  and  nights  they  chopped  down  trees, 
measured  and  cut  and  fitted  the  logs.  Then  came  a 
night  when  they  dragged  them  out  and  put  them  in 
place,  and,  behold,  when  the  men  in  the  fort  gazed 
around  in  the  morning,  there  stood  a  wooden  tower, 
high  enough  to  overlook  their  fort.  A  platform  at  the 
top  was  covered  with  men,  all  ready  to  fire  at  the  word 
of  command,  and  more  of  these  sure  marksmen  were  at 
the  base.    It  is  no  wonder  that  the  fort  surrendered. 

Marion  and  his  men  did  not  make  these  wild  raids 
for  the  sake  of  adventure.  It  was  partly  to  torment  and 
weaken  the  enemy  and  partly  to  encourage  the  patriots. 
Some  soldiers  fought  for  gain,  for  honors,  for  promo- 
tion; but  he  and  his  followers  fought  for  patriotism,  for 
pure  love  of  their  country  and  devotion  to  freedom. 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  185 

OUTLINE 

The  British  plan  to  begin  at  the  south  and  work  toward  the 
north  —  Marion's  army  —  their  expeditions  —  some  of  their  at- 
tacks —  Marion  and  the  Tories  —  Marion's  headquarters  —  his 
misfortune  and  appeal  to  his  men  —  how  he  captured  a  fort  — 
why  Marion  fought. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

One  of  Marion's  men  tells  how  he  got  his  arms  and  clothes; 
how  the  men  rescued  the  prisoners  at  the  pass;  how  the  Tory 
commander  was  pursued. 


GEORGE   ROGERS   CLARK 

WHO   GAVE   THREE   STATES   TO   THE   UNION 

ONE  day  during  the  Revolution  a  bill  was  brought 
before  the  English  Parliament  for  supplies  needed 
to  carry  on  the  war  with  the  colonies.  One  item  on  this 
bill  was  for  scalping-knives.  "  What  does  this  mean?  " 
demanded  a  member.  "  Have  our  soldiers  become  sav- 
ages ?  Are  they  scalping  our  colonists  ? "  He  was 
almost  right.  The  English  soldiers  were  not  using 
scalping-knives,  but  Colonel  Hamilton,  governor  of 
the  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  was  giving  them  to  the 
Indians  to  use  in  scalping  Americans. 

This  land  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  French  until 
Canada  was  conquered.    Then  the  British  took  posses- 


186  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

ision  of  the  forts.  South  of  the  Ohio  there  were  many 
American  colonists.  They  were  bold,  hardy  people  who 
had  not  been  afraid  to  strike  out  into  the  wilderness 
and  make  homes  for  themselves  far  away  from  the  cities 
and  villages  of  the  East.  Hamilton  hired  the  Indians  to 
make  attacks  on  these  settlers.  A  colonist  working  in 
his  field  would  be  struck  down  by  an  Indian  bullet;  his 
wife  and  children  would  be  fastened  into  their  log  cabin 
and  burned  to  death.  Some  were  taken  prisoners,  some 
were  burned  at  the  stake,  some  were  horribly  tortured 
The  settlers,  men  and  women,  held  out  bravely.  Then 
guns  were  always  loaded,  they  were  always  on  theii 
guard.  "  These  are  our  homes,"  they  said,  "  and  we 
shall  defend  them." 

.  One  of  these  courageous  settlers  was  a  young  sur- 
veyor named  George  Rogers  Clark.  He  was  a  good 
fighter;  he  was  also  a  good  thinker.  He  thought  a 
good  deal  about  the  Indian  attacks,  and  then  he  said 
to  two  young  hunters,  "  Will  you  go  north  of  the  Ohio 
and  find  out  how  the  French  settlers  feel  toward  us  ?  " 
When  the  hunters  came  back,  they  said,  "  Sometimes 
the  .French  start  out  with  the  British  and  Indians  and 
do  a  little  fighting,  but  they  don't  really  care  a  straw 
who  wins.  They  are  mightily  afraid  of  us  backwoods- 
men, though." 

Clark  did  not  explain  why  he  wanted  to  know  about 
the  people  of  the  Ohio  country.    He  said  good-by  and 


GEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK  187 

set  off  over  the  mountains  for  Virginia.  He  had  a  long 
talk  with  Patrick  Henry,  who  was  then  governor.  Gov- 
ernor Henry  said,  "It  is  a  brilliant  plan;  but  if  it  is 
going  to  succeed,  not 
even  the  legislature 
must  know  of  it,  for  it 
would  be  sure  to  leak 
out." 

"  How  much  help  can 
you  give  me  ? "  asked 
Clark. 

"We  can  give  you  a 
little  money,"  the  gov- 
ernor replied,  "  and  we 
can  publish  a  notice 
saying  that  you  have 
the  right  to  raise  men 
to  defend  our  colonists 
south  of  the  Ohio. 
There  is  no  need  of 
saying  how  you  mean 
to  do  it.  We  cannot  do  anything  more  without  the  vote 
of  the  legislature." 

For  several  months  Clark  worked  to  raise  men,  and 
then  he  and  his  fighters  went  on  board  their  flatboats  at 
Pittsburg.  It  was  a  thousand  miles  to  the  Mississippi, 
but  on  the  way  they  heard  news  that  cheered  their 


GEORGE   ROGERS   CLARK 

From  the  portrait  by  Jarvis  in  possession 
of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society 


188  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

courageous  hearts.  "  The  king  of  France  has  decided 
at  last/'  were  the  tidings,  "  and  he  is  going  to  help  us. 
He  will  give  us  money  and  ships  and  men."  No  better 
news  could  have  come  to  Clark  than  this.  He  called 
his  men  together  and  told  them  his  plan.  "  We  try  to 
defend  one  settlement,"  he  said,  "and  the  savages  come 
down  upon  another.  The  only  way  to  stop  it  is  to  keep 
the  British  from  sending  the  Indians." 

"  That 's  true  enough,"  the  men  agreed, "  but  how  do 
you  propose  to  do  that  little  thing  ?  " 

"  I  propose,"  replied  Clark,  "  to  go  straight  into  the 
country  north  of  the  Ohio  and  capture  their  forts." 

"  Whew !  "  said  the  men. 

Clark  went  on,  "  The  French  don't  care  whether  we 
or  the  English  win;  but  say  to  them,  'Your  King 
Louis  is  on  our  side,'  and  they  will  prick  up  their  ears. 
There  '11  be  no  trouble  with  the  French." 

The  men  became  as  enthusiastic  as  their  leader,  and 
set  off  on  a  march  of  fifty  miles.  They  forded  rivers, 
waded  through  swamps,  tramped  over  prairies,  forced 
their  way  through  forests,  and  finally  came  in  the  dark- 
ness close  to  the  settlement  of  Kaskaskia.  Clark  had 
about  two  hundred  men.  One  hundred  he  ordered  to 
surround  the  village;  to  the  other  hundred  he  said, 
"Follow  me.    Our  work  is  to  take  the  fort." 

Clark  had  expected  cannon  balls,  but  there  is  a  story 
that  he  was  received  with  another  kind  of  ball.     As  he 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  189 

quietly  approached  the  fort,  he  heard  laughter  and  mer- 
riment; then  music  struck  up  and  dancing  began.  He 
slipped  in  through  a  little  gate  and  stood  in  the  doorway 
a  minute  before  any  one  noticed  him.  Some  Indians 
were  in  the  room.  One  caught  sight  of  him  and  gave  a 
warwhoop.  The  dancers  stopped  as  if  they  were  turned 
to  stone.  The  fiddler  stood  with  his  bow  in  the  air  and 
his  mouth  wide  open.  "  Go  on  with  your  dancing,"  said 
Clark,  "  but  understand  that  you  are  no  longer  subjects 
of  the  king  of  Great  Britain.  This  place  is  in  the  hands 
of  Virginia."  This  was  true,  for  while  Clark  was  con- 
quering the  ballroom,  his  men  had  captured  the  officers 
of  the  fort. 

Nobody  thought  of  resisting.  "  Go  to  your  houses," 
bade  Clark.  "  The  streets  are  in  the  hands  of  my  men, 
and  they  have  orders  to  shoot  any  one  who  appears 
outside  his  door."  All  night  long  the  French  hid  away 
in  the  darkness  of  their  houses,  dreading  what  might 
come  with  the  daylight.  In  the  morning  some  of  the 
principal  men  of  the  little  place  asked  to  see  Clark. 
"  "Will  you  give  us  our  lives  ?  "  they  pleaded.  "  We 
ask  for  nothing  else,  but  do  not  put  us  to  death." 

Now  Clark  never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing  as  putting 
them  to  death,  but  he  thought  he  could  manage  them 
better  if  they  had  first  been  badly  frightened.  "  I  am 
not  here  to  kill  any  one,"  he  replied.  "  The  British  have 
made  slaves  of  you,  and  I  have  come  to  set  you  free. 


190  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

All  I  want  is  that  you  should  swear  to  be  true  to  the 
Americans.  I  can  give  you  a  piece  of  news.  Your  King 
Louis  of  France  is  our  friend,  and  he  is  going  to  send 
us  ships  and  money."  Then  the  people  of  the  frightened 
little  village  were  wild  with  delight.  Take  the  oath  of 
allegiance?  Of  course  they  would.  They  were  only  too 
happy  to  take  it.  Yincennes  and  two  or  three  other 
forts  yielded.  Many  of  the  French  joined  Clark's  lines 
and  agreed  to  help  fight  the  British. 

When  Hamilton  heard  of  this,  he  dashed  off  with  a 
strong  force  and  took  Yincennes.  Then  he  stopped. 
"  There  is  no  use  in  making  that  hard  march  to  Kas- 
kaskia  before  spring,"  he  thought.  "  One  hundred  men 
can  garrison  this  place."  So  he  sent  most  of  his  troops 
back  to  Detroit. 

Unluckily  for  Hamilton,  Clark  was  not  afraid  of  a 
winter  march,  even  one  that  was  two  hundred  and  forty 
miles  long.  Perhaps  even  he,  however,  did  not  guess 
what  lay  before  him.  He  had  a  worse  enemy  to  meet 
than  bullets  or  cold  or  snow;  and  that  was  a  February 
thaw.  Floods  came  rolling  down  into  the  rivers,  and 
every  little  stream  became  an  angry  torrent.  The  forest 
was  deep  in  water,  but  the  men  clung  to  trees  and  bushes 
and  floated  on  logs.  A  little  "  antic  drummer,"  as  Clark 
called  him,  floated  over  one  river  on  his  drum.  The 
next  stream  was  so  deep  that  even  these  courageous 
men  drew  back.    Clark  lifted  the  little  drummer  to  the 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  191 

shoulders  of  the  giant  of  the  company.  The  little  fel- 
low beat  the  charge.  "  Forward  march  !  "  cried  Clark, 
and  the  men  plunged  into  the  river  in  the  best  of  spirits. 
Sometimes  the  water  was  frozen  over,  and  they  had  not 


>V'l.  *"'»"'  '-'3y ti}. 


THE  LITTLE   "ANTIC   DRUMMER 


only  to  wade  through  water  breast-high,  but  to  break 
their  way  through  the  thin  ice. 

Hamilton  saw  their  camp-fire  one  night,  and  sent  out 
soldiers  to  find  what  it  meant ;  but  it  did  not  occur  to 
them  to  wade  through  a  mile  or  two  of  deep  water,  and 
therefore  they  did  not  discover  the  Americans  on  what 


192  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Clark  called  "  a  delightful  dry  spot."  Clark  dashed  up 
to  the  fort  and  began  to  fire.  Hamilton  defended  himself 
as  well  as  he  could,  but  soon  he  had  to  send  out  a  flag 
of  truce  and  surrender. 

Without  these  forts  the  British  could  not  hold  the 
Ohio  country.  American  settlers  poured  into  it;  and 
when  the  Revolution  was  over  and  the  time  came  to 
make  a  treaty  of  peace,  the  Americans  said  to  England, 
"  Your  Canada  comes  as  far  south  as  the  Great  Lakes ; 
but  south  of  those  the  land  is  ours  and  is  occupied  by 
our  settlers."  Of  this  land,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois 
were  made;  and  therefore  these  three  states  are  the 
gift  of  George  Rogers  Clark. 

OUTLINE 

A  bill  for  scalping-knives  —  settlers  in  the  Ohio  country  —  at- 
tacks of  the  Indians  —  George  Rogers  Clark  sends  out  spies  — 
their  report  —  Clark's  talk  with  Patrick  Henry  —  Clark's  jour- 
ney to  Pittsburg  —  he  hears  good  news  —  his  plan  —  the  march 
to  Kaskaskia  —  Clark  goes  to  a  ball  —  an  anxious  night  for  the 
French  —  they  go  to  see  Clark  —  Hamilton  takes  Vincennes,  but 
goes  no  farther  —  Clark  meets  a  February  thaw  —  how  the 
drummer  traveled  —  Hamilton  surrenders  —  the  Ohio  country 
in  American  hands. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Clark  tells  his  plan  to  Patrick  Henry. 
What  Clark's  men  said  of  his  plan. 
The  Kaskaskia  fiddler  tells  of  Clark's  coming. 
The  drummer  tells  how  he  crossed  the  rivers. 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES  193 

JOHN"  PAUL  JONES 

AND   HIS  SEA  FIGHTS   FOR  AMERICA 

"  J  1 1HAT  little  boat  will  never  get  into  harbor  in  such 

JL    a  squall,"  cried  a  ship-owner  excitedly. 

"  He  '11  fetch  her  in,"  declared  a  Scotchman  who  sat 
calmly  watching  the  small  craft  in  her  struggle  against 
the  wind.  "  That 's  my  boy  John  in  the  boat.  This 
isn't  much  of  a  squall  for  him." 

The  boat  came  in,  and  the  ship-owner  said,  "  John, 
I  have  a  fine  new  vessel  that  is  going  to  make  a  voyage 
to  Virginia.  If  your  father  is  willing,  I  will  ship  you 
as  sailor."  However  the  father  may  have  felt,  the  boy 
was  willing.  He  was  only  twelve,  but  for  two  years  he 
had  been  begging  to  go  to  sea. 

So  he  made  the  voyage  to  Virginia  and  also  many  other 
voyages.  Before  he  was  twenty  he  was  a  captain,  and 
a  well-known  one,  too.  He  lived  in  Virginia  for  a  time, 
and  while  there  he  made  up  his  mind  that  England  and 
her  colonies  would  be  at  war  before  many  years  had 
passed.  On  leaving  Virginia,  he  said  to  George  Wash- 
ington, "  Colonel,  when  the  time  comes  that  the  colonies 
need  me,  I  '11  be  ready."  The  battle  of  Lexington  took 
place  only  four  months  after  he  had  made  that  speech, 
and  he  immediately  sailed  away  in  the  service  of  the 
colonies.    He   captured   a    number   of    small   English 


194 


AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 


cruisers.  One  big  frigate  chased  him,  firing  broadsides 
after  him,  and  the  captain  probably  became  exceedingly 
angry,  as  Captain  Jones  saucily  returned  his  broadsides 
with  an  occasional  musket-shot.  Two  vessels  that  he 
took  were  full  of  supplies  that  had  been  meant  for  the 
British  army;  and  there  was  joy  in  Boston  when  two 
whole  shiploads  of  tents,  blankets,  saddles,  ammunition, 

medicines,  guns,  cloaks, 
boots,  and  woolen  shirts 
were  landed. 

This  was  all  very  well, 
but  Captain  Jones  want- 
ed to  cross  the  ocean 
and  show  Britain  on  her 
own  coast  what  the  new 
States  could  do.  In 
Portsmouth  ,]STew  Hamp- 
shire, a  ship  named  the 
Ranger  had  just  been 
launched,  and  he  was 
put  in  command.  A 
few  days  earlier,  Con- 
gress had  decided  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States 
should  be  "  Thirteen  Stripes,  Alternate  Eed  and  White; 
that  The  Union  be  Thirteen  Stars  in  a  Blue  Field." 
There  was  no  flag  for  the  Ranger  ;  but  the  Portsmouth 
girls  put  their  heads  together  and  planned  a  "  quilting 


PAUL  JONES 

From  the  portrait  by  Peale  in 

Independence  Hall 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES  195 

party."  They  did  not  sew  on  calico  patchwork,  how- 
ever, but  on  pieces  of  silk  cut  from  their  own  best 
gowns.  When  they  went  home,  they  carried  with  them 
a  beautiful  silken  flag;  and  this  they  presented  to  Cap- 
tain Jones.  He  hurried  down  from  Boston  to  fly  the 
new  banner  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1777,  for  the  first 
time.  Then  he  sailed  away  to  see  how  many  English 
banners  he  could  lower. 

His  first  cruise  was  around  the  north  of  Ireland.  In 
the  harbor  of  Carrickfergus  was  the  British  man-of- 
war,  the  Drake.  "  The  wind  is  wrong,  and  I  will  wait  a 
little,"  thought  Jones.  So  he  sailed  past  the  harbor  and 
waited.  Three  days  later,  some  fishermen  said,  "  The 
Drake  is  coming  out  in  search  of  you." 

"  Good,"  cried  Jones.  "  That  will  save  me  the  trouble 
of  going  in  after  her." 

The  Drake  came  out  and  hailed  the  stranger  with, 
"What  ship  is  that?" 

"  The  American  Continental  ship  Ranger,"  was  the 
reply.     "  Come  on;  we  are  waiting  for  you." 

Then  came  a  battle.  A  Narragansett  Indian  boy  from 
Martha's  Vineyard  was  one  of  the  seamen,  and  a  most 
excellent  one.  His  account  of  the  battle  was,  "  I  like 
to  see  the  big  gun  shoot.  I  like  to  hear  the  big  noise 
of  much  battle.  It  delights  me  to  walk  on  the  deck  of 
the  enemy's  big  boat  when  we  have  taken  it.  I  think, 
by  and  by,  we  will  take  a  much  bigger  boat  than  the 


196  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Drake."  This  was  quite  big  enough,  however,  to  star- 
tle all  England.  Never  before  in  modern  times  had 
a  regular  British  man-of-war  been  captured  by  a  less 
powerful  vessel.  For  two  hundred  years  England  had 
been  mistress  of  the  seas,  and  she  did  not  like  this  new 
way  of  doing  things. 

England  was  still  more  angry  before  Captain  Jones's 
work  was  over.  He  gave  up  the  Eanger,  though  he 
held  on  to  the  silken  flag  that  the  Portsmouth  girls  had 
made;  and  soon  he  was  put  in  command  of  a  larger  ves- 
sel, the  Bon  Homme  Richard.  Off  he  sailed  for  the 
British  Isles.  He  went  up  the  Irish  coast  and  around 
Scotland,  capturing  a  vessel  now  and  then  to  keep  his 
hand  in.  Off  Flamborough  Head  he  caught  sight  of  a 
fleet  of  merchant  vessels  protected  by  the  Serapis.  The 
merchant  vessels  spread  all  sail  and  scudded  away  for 
their  lives.  Captain  Pearson  of  the  Serapis  hailed  the 
stranger  with,  "What  ship  is  that  ?  "  There  was  no  re- 
ply, but  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  put  herself  in  a  good 
position  for  a  fight.  "  That  is  probably  Paul  Jones," 
said  Captain  Pearson.    "  If  so,  there  is  work  ahead." 

There  was  "work  ahead."  For  two  hours  the  firing 
went  on.  Then  there  was  a  moment's  quiet.  "  Have  you 
struck  your  colors  yet  ?  "  called  Captain  Pearson. 

"  I  have  n't  yet  begun  to  fight,"  Captain  Jones  replied. 
In  the  smoke  and  the  darkness  the  two  ships  swung 
alongside.     Captain  Jones  ordered  them  to  be  lashed 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES  197 

together,  and  he  himself  ran  to  help  tie  the  ropes.  Then 
came  a  most  awf  nl  hand-to-hand  combat  in  the  darkness. 
Guns  burst,  and  a  great  heap  of  cannon  cartridges  caught 
fire  and  exploded.    Wide  gaps  were  torn  out  of  the 


'WpKAJj 


FIGHT  BETWEEN  THE  SERAPIS  AND  THE  EON  HOMME  RICHARD 

From  a  minting  by  Richard  Paton 

sides  of  both  vessels.  Worst  of  all,  one  of  the  French 
ships  that  should  have  assisted  the  Bon  Homme  Richard 
was  stupidly  firing  straight  at  her.  "  The  ship  is  sink- 
ing !  "  cried  a  gunner,  "  Quarter,  quarter ! "  Captain 
Pearson  heard  this  cry,  and  again  called,  "  Have  you 
struck  ?  " 

"  No  ! "  thundered  Captain  Jones. 

The  master-at-arms  had  also  heard  the  gunner's  cry 
and  had  set  free  the  prisoners  that  they  had  captured. 
"  Go  to  the  pumps,"  the  captain  commanded  them.  "  If 


198  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

you  won't  pump,  the  ship  goes  to  the  bottom  and  you 
go  with  her!" 

At  last  the  fighting  stopped.  One  ship  had  yielded, 
but  in  the  tumult  and  the  darkness  hardly  any  one  knew 
which.     It  was  the  Serapis. 

But  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  was  fast  sinking.  The 
water  was  six  feet  deep  in  her  hold.  Captain  Jones 
left  her  and  took  possession  of  the  Serapis.  The  Bon 
Homme  Richard  rolled  from  side  to  side.  She  lurched 
and  pitched  and  plunged.  At  the  last  her  taffrail  rose 
in  the  air  for  an  instant,  and  the  little  silken  flag  that 
had  never  been  conquered  waved  for  the  last  time  in 
the  morning  breeze.  "  And  even  now  it  is  still  flying 
somewhere  at  the  bottom  of  the  North  Sea,"  said  Cap- 
tain Jones,  "  over  the  battered  wreck  of  the  good  old 
ship  that  sank,  disdaining  to  strike  it." 

After  the  war  closed,  there  was  nothing  more  for 
Captain  Jones  to  do  in  America,  and  he  entered  the 
service  of  Russia.  His  love  for  the  country  for  which 
he  had  done  so  much  never  grew  less;  and  just  before 
he  went  to  Russia,  he  wrote  to  friends  in  America,  "  I 
can  never  renounce  the  glorious  title  of  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States."  When  he  died,  he  was  buried  in  Paris; 
but  many  years  later  his  body  was  brought  to  America 
and  laid  near  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis.  He  was 
the  real  founder  of  the  American  navy,  and  therefore  it 
is  most  fitting  that  he  should  lie  where  American  boys 


THE  CAPTURE   OF  THE   SERAPIS 


200  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

are  trained  to  become  brave  seamen  and  defenders  of 

their  country. 

OUTLINE 

"  John  "  in  a  squall  —  he  goes  to  sea  —  his  promise  to  Wash- 
ington —  how  he  kept  it  —  he  plans  a  voyage  to  the  British  Isles 
—  a  flag  for  the  Ranger  —  he  meets  the  Drake  —  the  Indian  boy's 
account  of  the  battle  —  England  is  startled  —  the  Bon  Homme 
Richard  meets  the  Serapis  —  a  terrible  sea  fight — the  Bon  Homme 
Richard  is  abandoned  and  sinks  —  Jones  enters  the  service  of 
Russia  —  his  love  for  America  —  his  burial  place. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

A  Portsmouth  girl  tells  the  other  girls  of  her  plan  to  make  a 
flag. 
The  letter  that  they  wrote  to  Captain  Jones. 
His  reply,  promising  to  be  with  them  July  4,  1777. 


DANIEL   BOONE 
THE   KENTUCKY  PIONEER 

NOT  every  American  who  was  living  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  fought  in  the  army.  Some  helped 
to  raise  money;  some  aroused  the  interest  of  the  French 
in  the  struggling  colonies ;  and  some  extended  the  power 
of  the  United  States  by  pushing  their  way  into  what  was 
then  the  "  far  West."  Daniel  Boone  wras  one  of  these 
bold  settlers.  When  he  was  a  boy,  he  lived  in  the  wil- 
derness of  North  Carolina.   His  father's  house  was  built 


DANIEL  BOONE 


201 


of  great  logs,  notched  at  the  ends  so  that  they  fitted 
together  firmly.  The  spaces  between  them  were  made 
tight  with  clay.  The  roof  was  of  rough  boards,  hewn 
from  logs.  The  floor  was 
made  by  cutting  logs 
open  in  the  middle  and 
laying  them  side  by  side 
with  the  level  surface 
up.  A  fireplace  was 
built  of  stones;  and  it 
was  a  large  one,  for 
there  was  plenty  of 
wood  to  be  had  for  the 
cutting.  Mr.  Boone 
made  his  table  by  bor- 
ing four  holes  into  the 
floor,  driving  in  stakes, 
and  putting  split  logs 
on  top  of  them.  It  was 
not  a  very  handsome 
table,  but  it  never  tipped 

over.  The  bedstead  was  made  by  letting  two  poles  into 
the  wall  a  few  feet  from  the  corner.  At  the  place  where 
they  crossed,  a  stake  was  driven  into  the  floor  to  hold 
them  up.  Upon  these  poles  other  poles  and  pieces  of 
bark  were  laid.  On  top  was  placed  a  thick  cushion  of 
dried  g-  ass,  and  the  whole  was  covered  with  a  fur  robe. 


DANIEL  BOONE 


202  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

As  the  boy  grew  up,  other  houses  were  built  near  this, 
and  in  one  of  them  he  found  the  young  girl  who  became 
his  wife.  One  day  their  home  was  visited  by  a  hunter 
who  had  been  far  beyond  the  mountains  to  what  is  now 
Kentucky.  He  said  it  was  a  beautiful  land,  with  mild 
climate,  fertile  soil,  plenty  of  game  and  fruit,  wide  prai- 
ries, noble  rivers,  and  fine  old  forests.  The  more  the 
two  men  talked  of  this  wonderful  land,  the  more  Boone 
wanted  to  see  it,  and  at  length  he  and  five  others  set 
out  on  a  journey  of  hundreds  of  miles  through  the  wil- 
derness and  over  the  mountains.  He  learned  the  coun- 
try thoroughly,  and  the  more  he  saw  of  it  the  better  he 
liked  it. 

A  little  later,  the  governor  of  Virginia  made  war  upon 
the  Indians  of  Kentucky,  and  in  this  war  Boone  was  one 
of  the  leaders.  The  Indians  finally  agreed  to  give  up 
Kentucky  to  the  whites;  but  when  they  found  that  a 
road  was  being  cut  through  from  the  east  to  their  old 
hunting-grounds,  they  were  not  pleased.  Boone  was  in 
charge  of  this  road-making.  He  and  his  party  were  fired 
at  and  several  were  killed.  They  were  only  a  little  com- 
pany of  backwoodsmen  far  away  in  the  wilderness,  but 
they  had  no  idea  of  yielding.  "  Now  is  the  time  to  keep 
the  country,  — while  we  are  in  it,"  Boone  declared;  and 
he  set  to  work  at  once  to  build  a  fort  on  the  Kentucky 
River. 

This  fort,  like  many  of  those  built  in  the  forest  in  the 


DANIEL   BOONE  203 

early  days,  was  half  fort  and  half  village.  First  a  clear- 
ing was  made,  and  a  rectangle  marked  out  about  twice 
as  long  as  it  was  wide.  Around  the  sides  of  this  rectan- 
gle ten  log  houses  were  built.  Between  the  houses, 
heavy  timbers,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high  and  sharpened 
at  the  top,  were  driven  into  the  ground  close  together; 
and  in  this  way  a  stout  fence,  or  palisade,  was  made.  Few 
of  the  Indians  of  that  part  of  the  country  had  guns,  and 
their  arrows  could  not  go  through  either  the  log  houses  or 
the  palisade.  If  they  attempted  to  come  near,  they  would 
have  to  cross  the  large  clearing,  where  there  were  no 
trees  to  dodge  behind  to  escape  the  white  men's  bullets. 
If  they  succeeded  in  getting  across  the  clearing  and  tried 
to  put  up  ladders  against  the  palisade  in  order  to  climb 
over,  they  would  find  that  the  corner  houses  projected  a 
little  beyond  the  others,  and  that  in  these  houses  small 
port-holes  had  been  left,  from  which  the  white  men 
could  shoot.  Indians  very  rarely  besieged  a  place  for  any 
length  of  time ;  but  if  the  whites  kept  themselves  well 
supplied  with  food,  even  a  siege  would  fail,  for  one  cor- 
ner of  the  fort  almost  overhung  the  river,  so  they  could 
be  sure  of  plenty  of  water. 

Boone's  wife  and  children  were  in  North  Carolina, 
and  they  were  as  eager  to  come  to  him  in  the  new  land 
as  he  was  to  have  them.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  how 
strong  a  fort  had  been  built,  others  were  ready  to  jour- 
ney to  Boonesborough,  as  the  new  village  was  named. 


204  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

So  long  as  these  settlers  stayed  in  the  fort,  they  were 
safe;  but  they  soon  found  that  whoever  went  beyond  its 
walls  was  in  danger  of  being  shot  down  by  an  Indian 
arrow.  After  the  Revolutionary  War  began,  the  British 
hired  the  savages  to  attack  the  Americans ;  and  now  the 
Indians  were  well  supplied,  not  only  with  tomahawks 
but  with  guns  and  powder.  Hundreds  of  pioneers  left 
the  fertile  lands  of  Kentucky  and  hurried  back  to  the 
east.  Boone  and  his  family  remained,  and  he  became 
the  guardian  of  the  little  company  in  the  fort. 

They  had  water,  and  their  gims  had  thus  far  been 
able  to  bring  them  food ;  but  the  salt  had  given  out,  and 
salt  was  a  thing  that  they  must  have.  "  I  will  go  for  it," 
said  Boone.  With  thirty  men  he  started  on  a  journey  of 
one  hundred  miles  through  a  wilderness  where  at  any 
moment  hundreds  of  Indians,  well  armed  with  British 
guns,  might  fire  at  them.  They  reached  the  salt  springs 
safely.  Night  and  day  they  worked,  guns  in  hand,  to 
boil  the  water  and  get  the  salt  from  it.  For  four  weeks 
they  were  left  alone,  then  they  were  suddenly  attacked 
by  four  times  their  number  of  Indians  and  had  to  yield. 
They  were  taken  to  Detroit,  where  the  others  were 
given  up  for  ransom ;  but  the  red  men  would  not  give  up 
Boone  for  any  sum.  They  had  a  plan  to  persuade  him 
to  live  with  them  and  become  one  of  their  chiefs.  He 
guessed  this  and  pretended  to  be  satisfied.  "  Now  we 
will  adopt  you,"   they  said.     But    most  people  would 


DANIEL  BOONE  205 

have  preferred  not  to  be  adopted,  for  part  of  the  cere- 
mony was  plucking  out  all  his  hair  except  the  scalp-lock. 
Then  he  was 
taken  to  the 
river  and  washed 
to  make  sure  that 
no  white  blood 
was  left  in  him, 
and  after  his  face 
was  painted  he 
made  a  very  good 
chief. 

The  Indians 
were  too  shrewd 
to  believe  that 
Boone  would  not 
go  home  if  he 
had  a  chance ; 
so  when  he  went 
out  to  hunt,  they 
counted  his  balls 

and  measured  his  powder.  They  knew  that 
if  he  had  no  ammunition  he  would  not  at- 
tempt to  run  away,  for  without  it  he  would 
soon  starve  in  the  forest.  He  did  save  up  ammunition, 
however,  in  spite  of  them,  for  he  used  no  more  than 
was  absolutely  necessary  and  cut  every  bullet  in  two. 


BOONE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS 


206  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

One  wise  thing  that  Boone  did  when  he  was  captured 
was  to  pretend  to  know  nothing  of  the  language  of  the 
Indians,  though  he  really  understood  everything  that 
they  said.  They  talked  freely  before  him,  and  he  learned 
that  they  were  planning  to  attack  Boonesborough.  The 
war-dances  were  held,  and  Boone  joined  in  them.  But 
one  morning  he  went  out  to  hunt  and  did  not  return. 
Five  days  later  there  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  fort, 
for  Boone  had  come  back,  though  they  had  thought  him 
surely  dead.  He  was  none  too  soon.  In  a  little  while 
a  body  of  Indians  marched  upon  the  fort.  "In  the 
name  of  his  Majesty  King  George  of  Great  Britain,  we 
summon  you  to  surrender,"  they  said.  There  were  ten 
times  as  many  of  the  enemy  as  there  were  settlers,  but 
Boone  replied,  "  We  shall  defend  our  fort  so  long  as 
one  man  is  alive." 

Then  came  fierce  fighting  that  went  on  day  and  night 
for  nine  days.  One  day  the  Americans  noticed  that  the 
water  of  the  river  was  becoming  muddy,  and  they  knew 
that  the  enemy  were  digging  in  from  the  bank  to  un- 
dermine the  fort.  They  broke  up  this  plan  by  digging 
another  passage  to  cut  the  first.  The  Indians  shot  fire- 
arrows  to  try  to  set  fire  to  the  fort,  but  the  Americans 
were  too  watchful  to  allow  them  to  do  any  damage. 
At  last  the  Indians  gave  it  up  and  went  away.  Boone 
said  quietly  that  they  had  been  very  industrious,  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds  of  bullets  were  picked 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS   AND   WILLIAM   CLARK    207 

up  in  the  fort,  besides  what  stuck  in  the  logs.  Never 
again  did  the  Indians  attempt  to  take  Boonesborough. 
Daniel  Boone  had  explored  the  country,  made  a  road  to 
it,  brought  in  settlers,  and  defended  them. 

OUTLINE 

Different  ways  of  helping  in  the  Revolution  —  Daniel  Boone's 
early  home  —  his  marriage  —  he  hears  of  Kentucky  —  goes  to  see 
it  —  fights  the  Indians  —  his  road-making  —  building  a  fort  —  a 
defense  against  the  Indians  —  new  settlers  arrive  —  dangers  from 
Indians  —  Boone  goes  for  salt  —  captured  and  taken  to  Detroit  — 
adopted  by  the  Indians  —  closely  watched  —  learns  their  plans 
—  escapes  —  attack  on  the  fort — the  repulse  — what  Boone  did  for 
Kentucky. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Who  helped  the  country  most,  —  those  who  raised  money,  those 
who  aroused  interest,  or  those  who  settled  in  the  wilderness  ? 

Indians  describe  an  attempt  to  take  a  fort. 

Boone's  daughter  sees  her  father  coming  after  his  escape  from 
the  Indians. 


MEBTWETHER  LEWIS  AND   WILLIAM 
CLAEK 

WHO   SHOWED  THE  WAY  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

AT  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  the  United  States 
owned  all  the  land  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  from  Canada  to  Florida.   France  had  lost 


208  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Canada,  but  she  still  held  the  country  between  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  About  twenty  years 
after  the  war  France  needed  money,  and  she  sold  this 
land  to  the  United  States  at  about  two  and  a  half  cents 
an  acre.  The  next  thing  was  to  find  out  what  kind  of 
country  had  been  bought.  The  government  asked  Meri- 
wether Lewis  and  William  Clark,  brother  of  George 
Rogers  Clark,  to  explore  it.  It  was  thought  that  the 
best  way  would  be  to  follow  up  the  Missouri  River,  then 
to  enter  the  Columbia  River,  and  so  get  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  but  no  one  had  any  idea  where  the  sources  of 
the  two  rivers  might  be.  The  only  way  to  learn  was  to 
go  and  find  out. 

No  one  knew  what  dangers  there  would  be.  There 
were  stories  of  mountains  so  lofty  that  no  man  could 
ever  climb  them;  of  Indians  more  fierce  and  more  cruel 
than  any  that  had  been  known;  but  the  stout-hearted 
company  set  out,  not  in  the  least  frightened  by  all  these 
tales.  There  were  forty  men  or  more  in  the  party,  the 
wife  of  the  interpreter,  and  her  baby,  the  youngest  of 
American  explorers. 

This  company  was  to  do  much  more  than  simply  to 
push  through  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  They  were  to  note 
the  mountains  and  valleys  and  rivers;  to  draw  maps 
showing  where  there  were  rapids  or  falls ;  to  see  what 
kinds  of  soil,  trees,  flowers,  fruit,  animals,  and  minerals 
there  were  in  different  parts  of  the  country.   In  short, 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS  AND  WILLIAM  CLARK     209 

they  were  to  keep  their  eyes  open,  and  on  their  return  to 
tell  the  government  where  they  had  been  and  what  they 
had  seen.  One  thing  more  they  were  to  do,  the  most 
important  of  all,  and  that  was  to  make  friends  with  the 
Indians,  to  learn  how  they  lived  and  what  lands  each 
tribe  claimed,  and  especially  to  open  the  way  for  trad- 
ing with  them.    It  seems  like  going  back  to  the  days  of 


Champlain  to  read  the  list  of  what  the  travelers  carried 
to  give  or  sell  to  the  red  men.  There  were  beads,  paints, 
knives,  mirrors,  red  trousers,  coats  made  gorgeous  with 
gilt  braid,  and  many  other  things  .that  would  please  the 
savages. 

Then  they  set  out  on  a  journey  which  proved  to  be 


210  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

two  years  and  four  months  long.  And  such  wonders  as 
they  saw !  In  one  place  the  water  had  worn  away  the 
earth  into  such  shapes  that  the  explorers  were  sure 
they  had  come  upon  an  ancient  fort.  In  another  was  a 
wide  river  with  bed  and  banks  and  falls  and  rapids, 
but  not  one  drop  of  water.  There  were  antelopes  and 
prairie  dogs  and  other  animals  which  were  new  to  them. 
There  were  buffaloes  so  tame  that  they  had  to  be  driven 
out  of  the  way  with  sticks  and  stones.  There  were  water- 
falls so  high  that  the  water  fell  part  way,  then  broke 
into  mist,  but  gathered  together  again  and  made  a 
second  fall,  which  seemed  to  come  from  a  cloud. 

There  were  some  things  to  meet  that  were  not  quite 
so  interesting  as  double  waterfalls.  There  were,  brown 
bears  and  black  bears  and  grizzly  bears,  all  anxious  to 
greet  them  with  a  hug.  There  were  long  marches  over 
ground  covered  with  sharp  pieces  of  flint,  and  there 
were  other  marches  over  plains  where  the  thorns  of  the 
prickly  pear  pierced  their  shoes  as  if  they  were  only 
paper.  Sometimes  they  were  driven  half  wild  with 
clouds  of  mosquitoes.  "  The  Musquetoes  were  so  nu- 
merous that  I  could  not  keep  them  off  my  gun  long 
enough  to  take  sight  and  by  that  means  Missed,"  wrote 
Captain  Clark  in  his  journal.  Captain  Lewis  once  was 
separated  from  his  men  for  a  few  hours,  and  in  that 
time  he  met  a  grizzly  bear,  a  wolverine,  and  three  buf- 
falo bulls,  all  of  which  showed  fight.   Again  he  lay  down 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS   AND   WILLIAM   CLARK    211 

under  a  tree,  and  when  he  woke  he  found  that  he  had 
had  a  big  rattlesnake  for  next-door  neighbor.  He  nailed 
a  letter  upon  a  tree  for  some  members  of  the  party  who 
were  to  come  after  him ;  but  when  they  came  they  found 
that  the  beavers  had  gnawed  the  tree  down,  carried  it 
away  to  use  in  their  dams,  and  so  had  stolen  the  whole 
post-office.  One  night  the  company  camped  on  a  sand- 
bar in  the  river  ;  but  they  were  hardly  sound  asleep 
before  the  guards  cried,  "  Get  up !  Get  up !  Sand  bar 's 
a-sinking! "  They  jumped  into  the  boats  and  pulled  for 
the  farther  shore,  but  before  they  reached  it  the  sand- 
bar was  out  of  sight.  There  were  other  disturbances 
of  their  dreams.  Another  night  they  camped  near  an 
island  which  proved  to  be  the  home  of  ducks  and  geese 
and  other  wild  fowl  that  quacked  and  hissed  and  made 
all  the  noises  that  they  knew  how  to  make,  while  the 
tired  men  rolled  and  tumbled  and  wished  they  had  more 
quiet  neighbors.  Another  night  a  buffalo  dashed  into 
their  camp  and  ran  between  two  rows  of  sleepers.  And 
to  cap  the  climax,  the  baby  explorer  had  the  mumps  and 
was  cutting  teeth  and  cried  all  night. 

Getting  food  was  not  always  an  easy  matter.  In  one 
place  they  exchanged  roast  meat,  pork,  flour,  and  meal  for 
watermelons;  but  they  had  not  often  so  luxurious  fare. 
Frequently  they  had  nothing  but  a  little  flour  or  meal, 
and  for  a  long  while  they  lived  on  horse-flesh  and  dog- 
flesh.     Often  they  were  glad  to  buy  eatable  roots  of  the 


212  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

Indians.  Sometimes  the  Indians  refused  to  sell.  On 
one  such  occasion,  Captain  Clark  threw  a  port-fire 
match  into  the  fire,  and  then  took  out  his  compass  and 
with  a  bit  of  steel  made  the  needle  whirl  round  and 
round.  The  Indians  were  so  terrified  that  the  women  hid 
behind  the  men,  and  the  men  hurried  to  bring  him  the 
roots  that  they  had  sullenly  refused  to  sell.  On  the 
Fourth  of  July  the  explorers  lived  in  luxury,  for  they 
feasted  on  bacon,  beans,  suet  dumplings,  and  buffalo 
meat;  but  when  Christmas  came  they  had  nothing  but 
stale  meat,  fish,  and  a  few  roots.  The  Indians  once 
cooked  them  some  meat  by  laying  it  on  pine  branches 
under  which  were  hot  stones.  More  branches  were  put 
on  top  of  the  meat,  then  a  layer  of  meat,  then  another 
layer  of  branches.  Water  was  poured  upon  the  mass, 
and  three  or  four  inches  of  earth  spread  over  the  whole 
heap.  The  white  men  did  not  like  the  flavor  of  pine,  but 
they  admitted  that  the  meat  was  tender. 

They  tried  to  make  friends  with  the  Indians  wherever 
they  went,  by  giving  them  medals  and  other  trinkets 
that  they  had  brought.  They  told  them  about  the  Great 
Father  in  Washington  who  wished  them  to  be  his  chil- 
dren, and  who  would  always  be  kind  to  them.  Sometimes 
they  shared  their  food  with  the  red  men.  One  Indian  ate 
a  piece  of  dried  squash  and  said  it  was  the  best  thing 
he  had  ever  tasted  except  a  lump  of  sugar  that  some 
member  of  the  party  had  given  him.    One  tribe  to  whom 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS  AND  WILLIAM  CLARK  213 
they  offered  whiskey  refused  it.  "  I  am  surprised,"  said 
the  chief,  "  that  our  father  should  give  us  a  drink  that 
would  make  us  fools." 

Talking  with  the  Indians  was  not  always  easy.  This 
is  the  way  it  was  sometimes  done.  Captain  Lewis  or 
Captain  Clark  spoke  in  English ;  one  of  the  men  put 


LEWIS  AND  CLARK  MEETING  THE  INDIANS 
(By  courtesy  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway) 

what  he  had  said  into  French;  the  interpreter  put  it 
into  an  Indian  dialect  that  his  Indian  wife  understood; 
she  put  it  into  another  tongue  which  a  young  Indian  in 
the  party  understood;  and  he  translated  it  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  tribe  with  whom  they  wished  to  talk.  It 
was  no  wonder  that   whenever   it   was  possible  they 


214  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

avoided  this  roundabout  method  and  used  the  language 
of  signs.  When  a  man  wished  to  say,  for  instance,  "  I 
have  been  gone  three  nights,"  he  had  only  to  rest  his 
head  on  his  hand  to  suggest  sleep  and  to  hold  up  three 
fingers.  He  could  say,  "  I  came  on  horseback  "  by  point- 
ing to  himself  and  then  placing  two  fingers  of  his  right 
hand  astride  his  left  wrist.  To  hold  a  blanket  by  two 
corners,  shake  it  over  the  head,  and  unfold  it,  meant 
"  I  am  your  friend ;  come  and  sit  on  my  blanket."  If 
the  Indian  accepted  the  invitation,  the  next  scene  was 
not  very  agreeable;  for  he  would  wish  to  embrace  the 
white  man  and  rub  his  cheek,  thick  with  red  paint,  on 
that  of  his  new  friend. 

One  language  was  understood  by  all,  the  language  of 
gifts.  A  string  of  beads  went  a  long  way  in  winning 
friends.  The  red  men  had  their  fashions  in  beads,  how- 
ever; blue  or  white  beads  were  very  welcome,  but  they 
cared  little  for  other  colors.  They  were  fond  of  dan- 
cing. One  evening  several  hundred  Indians  seated  them- 
selves around  the  white  men's  camp  and  waited  till  the 
violin  struck  up  and  a  dance  took  place.  After  an  hour 
or  two,  the  white  men  said, "  Now  it  is  your  turn.  Show 
us  how  you  dance."  The  red  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren sprang  to  their  feet  and  crowded  together  around 
an  open  space.  A  few  young  braves  leaped  into  the 
space  and  carried  on  something  that  might  be  called  a 
dance ;  but  all  that  the  rest  of  the  company  did  was  to 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS   AND  WILLIAM   CLARK    215 


sing  and  jump  np 
and  down  in  time 
with  the  music. 
They  were  as  fond 
of  games  as  of  dan- 
cing. The  most  com- 
mon game  was  one 
often  played  now  by 
white  children.  A 
man  passed  a  tiny 
piece  of  bone  back 
and  forth  from  one 
hand  to  the  other, 
then  held  out  both 
hands  closed.  The 
one  who  was  playing 
against  him  pointed 
to  the  hand  in  which 
he  thought  the  bone 
was.  If  he  guessed 
right,  he  won  the 
blue  beads  or  what- 
ever else  the  prize 
might  be.    If  he  lost,  the  other  man  won  it. 

So  it  was  that,  dancing,  climbing  mountains,  shooting 
rapids,  killing  bears  and  mosquitoes,  dragging  canoes  up 
rivers,  making  friends  with  the  Indians,  eating  or  fast- 


SACAJAWEA,  THE  INDIAN  WOMAN  WHO 
GUIDED  LEWIS  AND  CLARK 


216  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

ing,  the  brave  explorers  made  their  way  to  the  source  of 
the  Missouri,  a  streamlet  so  narrow  that  one  of  the  men 
took  his  stand  with  one  foot  on  either  bank.  Three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  farther,  they  came  to  a  creek  running 
to  the  westward.  This  was  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
Columbia.  Onward  they  went,  and  at  last  they  stood 
on  the  shore  of  the  Pacific.  It  was  the  rainy  season. 
Their  clothes  and  bedding  were  always  wet,  and  they 
had  nothing  to  eat  but  dried  fish.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
they  did  not  feel  delighted  with  the  scenery.  Captain 
Clark  wrote  in  his  journal  that  the  ocean  was  "  tempes- 
tuous and  horrible." 

At  last  they  started  on  the  long  journey  back  to  the  east. 
There  were  the  same  dangers  to  go  through  again,  but 
finally  they  came  to  the  homes  of  white  men  ;  and  when 
they  caught  sight  of  cows  feeding  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  they  all  shouted  with  joy,  the  herds  looked  so  calm 
and  restful  and  homelike.  When  they  reached  the  vil- 
lage of  St.  Louis,  they  received  a  hearty  welcome,  for 
all  supposed  that  they  had  perished  in  the  wilderness. 
These  courageous,  patient  men  had  done  much  more 
than  to  explore  a  wild*  country.  Just  as  Columbus  had 
made  a  path  across  the  Atlantic,  so  they  had  made  a 
path  to  the  Pacific.  They  showed  the  way;  and  the 
thousands  who  have  made  the  western  country  into 
farms  and  villages  and  cities  have  only  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  these  fearless  explorers. 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS  AND  WILLIAM  CLARK    217 

OUTLINE 

Growth  of  the  United  States  —  plans  for  exploration  —  the  com- 
pany sets  out  —  the  aims  of  the  explorers  —  goods  for  barter  — 
what  wonders  were  seen  —  hardships  of  the  journey  —  wild  ani- 
mals that  they  met  —  a  stolen  post-office  — a  sinking  sandbar  — 
noisy  neighbors  —  getting  food  —  an  Indian  way  of  cooking  — 
making  friends  with  the  Indians  —  difficulty  of  talking  with  the  In- 
dians —  the  sign  language  —  gifts  to  the  Indians  — an  Indian  dance 
—  Indian  games  —  the  source  of  the  Missouri  —  a  branch  of  the 
Columbia  —  the  shore  of  the.  Pacific  —  the  journey  home  —  the 
welcome  —  what  the  explorers  had  done. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK. 

A  boy  tells  why  he  wants  to  go  with  Lewis  and  Clark. 
Which  articles  carried  by  the  explorers  for  barter  would  be  most 
valued  by  the  Indians  ? 

The  greatest  hardship  that  the  explorers  had  to  meet. 


218  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

OLIVER  HAZAED  PERRY 

WHO    CAPTURED   A   BRITISH   FLEET 

WHEN  the  children  born  at  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution had  become  men  and  women,  another  war, 
known  as  the  war  of  1812,  broke  out  between  England 
and  the  United  States.  During  this  war  both  parties 
were  anxious  to  get  control  of  Lake  Erie.  The  Ameri- 
can government  decided  to  build  some  ships  on  the  lake7 
and  appointed  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  a  young  man  of 
twenty-seven,  commander  of  the  fleet.  He  and  his 
younger  brother  set  out  in  an  open  sleigh  for  Erie,  where 
the  vessels  were  to  be  built.  Perry  found  that  the  gov- 
ernment was  not  a  very  good  builder  of  ships.  There 
was  no  seasoned  timber,  no  iron,  no  canvas,  ropes,  an- 
chors, cannon,  muskets,  balls,  or  cartridges.  Worst  of 
all,  there  were  no  shipbuilders.  The  men  to  whom  the 
order  to  build  had  been  given  had  done  as  well  as  they 
could.  They  had  sent  for  shipbuilders  to  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  a  journey  of  four  or  five  weeks,  and  in  the 
mean  time  they  had  set  house-carpenters  to  work. 

Luckily,  the  young  commander  had  taken  charge  of 
building  a  fleet  before,  and  after  he  came  there  was  no 
more  delay.  The  shipbuilders  arrived  who  had  started 
some  time  before;  trees  were  cut  down  in  the  forest, 
dragged  to  the  shipyard,  cut  into  beams  and  planks,  and 


OLIVER  HAZARD   PERRY  219 

made  into  parts  of  vessels,  —  all  within  twelve  hours. 
Men  were  sent  in  various  directions  to  get  what  was 
needed.  They  scoured  the  country  for  iron  and  brought 
in  hinges,  locks,  chains,  old  kettles,  wheel-tires,  bars, 
and  bolts  from  wherever  they  could  be  found.  Guns 
and  ammunition  and  whatever  else  was  needed  were 
hurried  in.  In  less  than  two  months  after  Perry  arrived, 
three  gunboats  were  launched,  and  two  sloops  were 
ready  a  few  weeks  later. 

The  British  knew  what  was  going  on  at  Erie,  but 
Perry's  guard  kept  close  watch  that  no  one  should  slip 
up  to  the  vessels  in  the  night  and  set  them  on  fire.  There 
was  no  danger  from  the  British  ships  on  the  lake,  for  in 
front  of  Erie  stretched  a  long  sand-bar  which  no  ship 
drawing  more  than  seven  feet  of  water  could  sail  across. 
Of  course  Perry's  vessels  must  get  over  the  bar  in  some 
way,  and  Captain  Barclay,  the  British  commander,  was 
watching  closely.  "  That  will  be  slow  work,"  he  said 
to  himself,  "  and  when  they  begin  to  go  over  the  bar  is 
the  time  for  me." 

Unfortunately  for  Captain  Barclay,  he  was  invited 
to  dinner  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  and  accepted  the 
invitation.  Perry,  too,  had  been  watching.  "  This  is  the 
time  for  me,"  he  said,  and  gave  the  order  to  cross.  His 
flagship,  the  Lawrence,  was  the  largest  of  the  fleet.  She 
was  brought  up  to  the  bar  with  a  big  scow  on  each  side. 
The  scows  were  nearly  filled  with  water,  and  while  they 


220  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

were  very  low  in  the  water,  blocks  were  piled  upon  them. 
Then  the  water  was  pumped  out,  and  as  they  rose,  they 
struck  against  stout  beams  which  had  been  pushed  into 
the  port-holes  of  the  Lawrence  and  lifted  the  vessel  safely 
over  the  bar.  The  other  ships  came  across  with  less 
trouble. 

Captain  Barclay  had  hoped  to  capture  a  ship  while  it 
was  crossing,  but  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  have  a  general 
battle.  He,  too,  was  building  a  ship,  the  Detroit,  and 
he  meant  to  have  it  finished  before  any  fighting  began. 
Therefore  he  slipped  away  and  got  out  of  sight  as  fast 
as  possible.  He  had  not  a  great  supply  of  provisions, 
but  he  waited  a  month  for  his  new  vessel  and  then  sailed 
out,  ready  for  a  fight.  Perry,  too,  was  ready.  Upon  his 
flagship  he  ran  up  a  blue  flag  on  which  in  clear  white 
letters  was  Lawrence's  dying  command,  "  Don't  give  up 
the  ship !  " 

On  the  Detroit  the  musicians  played  "  Eule,  Britan- 
nia !  —  Britannia,  rule  the  waves ! "  A  bugle  was  sounded. 
"  Hurrah  !  Hurrah !  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  the  men  on  the 
British  vessels.  Then  the  combat  began,  and  a  fearful 
combat  it  was.  The  Lawrence  became  only  a  shattered 
hulk.  "  Perry  has  lost  his  flagship,"  thought  the  Brit- 
ish, "  and  he  will  soon  surrender."  But  Perry  had  no 
such  intention.  He  wrapped  his  flag  around  his  arm, 
then  he  and  his  brother,  with  four  seamen  to  row  them, 
leaped  into  a  boat.     The  seamen  pulled  with  all  their 


222  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

might.  At  first  the  smoke  hid  them  from  their  enemies ; 
then  the  British  caught  sight  of  them  and  fired  volley 
after  volley.  Two  bullets  went  through  the  boy's  cap, 
but  no  one  was  injured;  and  in  fifteen  minutes  after  they 
left  the  Lawrence,  Perry  had  run  up  his  flag  on  the 
Niagara,  and,  with  his  new  flagship,  was  all  ready  for 
another  battle.  It  was  a  short  one,  and  then  came  the 
surrender  of  the  British.  It  was  the  first  time  that  Eng- 
land had  ever  lost  a  whole  squadron,  but  now  she  sur- 
rendered one,  not  to  an  old  experienced  commander,  but 
to  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven  who  had  never  before 
even  seen  a  naval  battle. 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.  Perry  must  have  enjoyed  writing  that 
report,  for  he  had  begged  the  secretary  more  than  once 
to  be  sent  where  there  was  likely  to  be  fighting,  and 
that  official  had  paid  no  attention  to  his  request.  While 
he  was  building  the  ships,  he  had  almost  pleaded  for 
men.  "  Give  me  men,  sir,"  he  had  said  to  Commodore 
Chauncey,  "  and  I  will  gain  both  for  you  and  myself 
honor  and  glory  on  this  lake  or  perish  in  the  attempt." 
After  writing  his  formal  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  he  sent  off  his  famous  note  to  General  Harrison, 
which  said,  "  We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are 
onrs." 

The  British  had  been  planning  to  invade  what  was 
then  called  the  Northwest  Territory,  that  is,  the  land 


OLIVER  HAZARD   PERRY  223 

now  forming  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois;  but  now  that 
Perry  had  captured  their  fleet,  he  had  control  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  all  their  plans  of  invasion  came  to  nothing. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  the  whole  country  rang  with  the 
praises  of  the  young  victor.  Congress  formally  thanked 
him,  promoted  him,  and. gave  him  a  medal.  Cities  took 
holidays,  rang  their  bells,  fired  their  guns,  and  illumi- 
nated their  houses  in  his  honor.  Everybody  who  could 
make  two  lines  rhyme  set  to  work  to  write  a  poem 
about  him.  Boston  gave  him  a  silver  service.  Other 
cities  gave  him  swords,  and  as  for  votes  of  thanks, 
the  land  fairly  echoed  with  them. 

This  was  not  the  end  of  Perry's  service  by  any  means, 
for  he  had  much  more  to  do  for  his  country  before  the 
war  was  over.  One  thing  was  to  help  defend  Balti- 
more when  the  British  fleet  was  trying  its  best  to  cap- 
ture her  forts.  His  life  was  short,  for  only  seven  years 
after  the  war  of  1812  began,  he  died  in  South  America. 
Congress  sent  a  man-of-war  to  bring  home  his  body  that 
it  might  rest  in  the  land  which  he  had  so  bravely  helped 
to  defend. 

OUTLINE 

Ships  to  be  built  on  Lake  Erie  —  Perry  goes  to  Lake  Erie  —  the 
government  a  poor  shipbuilder  —  work  is  begun  —  getting  iron  — 
setting  a  watch  —  advantage  of  the  sand-bar  —  Captain  Barclay's 
plans —  what  happened  when  he  went  to  dinner  —  he  avoids  a  bat- 
tle —  the  two  flagships  —  Perry  loses  his  flagship  —  he  finds  a  new 


224  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

one  — the  British  surrender  —  Perry's  report  and  note  to  General 
Harrison  —  value  of  this  victory  —  celebration  of  the  victory  — 
Perry's  further  service  — his  death. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Perry's  brother  describes :  —  building  the  ships ;  getting  the 
Lawrence  over  the  bar  ;  the  battle. 


DOLLY  MADISON 

WHO   GUARDED   THE  NATION'S   TREASURES 

"  TROLLY,"  asked  President  Madison  of  his  wife, 

\-J  "  have  yon  the  courage  to  stay  here  till  I  come 
back  to-morrow  or  next  day  ?  " 

"I  am  not  afraid  of  anything  if  only  yon  are  not 
harmed  and  our  army  succeeds,"  was  her  reply. 

"  Good-by,  then,  take  care  of  yourself,  and  if  any- 
thing happens,  look  out  for  the  Cabinet  papers,"  said 
the  President,  and  rode  away  to  where  the  militia  was 
gathering. 

There  was  good  reason  for  Mrs.  Madison  to  be  anx- 
ious about  her  husband  and  about  the  success  of  the 
Americans.  It  was  now  1814;  America  and  England 
had  been  fighting  for  two  years.  Many  people  thought 
that  the  President  had  been  wrong  in  resorting  to  war. 
Letters  had  been  sent  him  which  said,  "  If  this  war  does 
not  come  to  an  end  soon,  you  will  be  poisoned."    The 


DOLLY  MADISON  225 

city  of  Washington,  too,  was  in  great  danger.  Four 
days  earlier  a  messenger  had  ridden  up  at  full  speed  to 
say,  "  Fifty  British  ships  are  anchoring  off  the  Potomac." 
Nearly  all  the  men  hurried  to  the  front  to  try  to  oppose 
the  enemy.  People  in  Washington  were  carrying  their 
property  away  to  the  country.  Still  the  little  lady  at  the 
White  House  did  not 
run  away.  She  had  the 
public  papers  to  guard, 
and  she  would  not  go. 

Besides  the  papers, 
there  was  another  of 
the  nation's  treasures  in 
the  house,  a  fine  por- 
trait of  George  Wash- 
ington by  the  famous 
artist,  Gilbert  Stuart. 
The  son  of  Washing- 
ton's stepson  came  to 
Mrs.  Madison  to  plan 
for  its  safety.  "  What- 
ever happens,  that  shall 
be  cared  for,"  she  had 
promised  him. 

At  last  a  note  came 
to  her  from  the  President.   "  The  enemy  are  stronger 
than  we  heard  at  first,"  it  said.    "  They  may  reach  the 


DOLLY  MADISON 


226  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

city  and  destroy  it.  Be  ready  to  leave  at  a  moment's 
warning." 

Most  of  her  friends  had  already  gone,  but  her  faithful 
servants  were  with  her.  "  Bring  me  as  many  trunks  as 
my  carriage  will  hold,"  she  ordered;  and  then  she  set  to 
work  to  fill  them  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  the  other  papers  that  were  of  value  to  the  whole 
nation. 

Night  came,  but  there  was  no  rest  for  the  lady  of  the 
White  House.  As  soon  as  the  sun  rose,  she  was  at  the 
windows  with  a  spy-glass,  gazing  in  every  direction  and 
hoping  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  her  husband.  All  she  could 
see  was  clouds  of  dust,  here  and  there  a  group  of  sol- 
diers wandering  about,  and  little  companies  of  fright- 
ened women  and  children,  hurrying  to  the  bridge  across 
the  Potomac.  She  began  to  hear  the  roar  of  cannon,  and 
she  knew  that  a  battle  was  going  on;  still  the  President 
did  not  come.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  wait.  It  was 
of  no  use  to  pack  the  silver  and  other  valuables,  for 
every  wagon  had  been  seized  long  before,  and  not  one 
was  left  for  even  the  wife  of  the  President. 

At  three  o'clock  two  men,  covered  with  dust,  gal- 
loped up  and  cried,  "  You  must  fly,  or  the  house  will  be 
burned  over  your  head." 

"  I  shall  wait  here  for  the  President,"  was  her  reply. 

A  wagon  came  rumbling  along.  Some  good  friends 
had  at  last  succeeded  in  getting  it  for  her.    She  had  it 


DOLLY  MADISON  227 

filled  with  silver  and  other  valuables.  "  Take  them  to 
the  Bank  of  Maryland,"  she  ordered;  but  she  said  to 
herself,  "  The  Bank  of  Maryland  or  the  hands  of  the 
British  —  who  knows  which  it  will  be?  " 

Two  or  three  friends  came  to  hurry  her  away.  "  The 
British  will  burn  the  house,"  they  said.  "They  will 
take  you  prisoner;  they  boast  that  they  will  carry  the 
President  and  his  wife  to  England  and  make  a  show  of 
them." 

They  were  almost  lifting  her  to  her  carriage,  when 
she  said,  "  Not  yet.  The  picture  of  Washington  shall 
never  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  That  must  be 
taken  away  before  I  leave  the  house."  This  picture  was 
in  a  heavy  frame  that  was  firmly  screwed  to  the  wall, 
and  with  what  tools'were  at  hand  it  could  not  be  easily 
loosened.  "  Get  an  axe  and  break  the  frame,"  Mrs. 
Madison  bade  her  servants.  This  was  done,  the  canvas 
was  taken  from  the  stretcher,  carefully  rolled  up,  and 
sent  to  a  safe  place.  Then  the  carriage  with  Mrs\  Mad- 
ison was  driven  rapidly  away. 

She  left  the  house  none  too  soon,  for  the  British  were 
upon  the  city.  They  broke  into  the  White  House.  They 
stole  what  they  could  carry  off  with  them,  and  set  fire 
to  the  rest.  They  fired  the  navy  yard,  the  Treasury 
building,  the  public  libraries,  and  the  new  Capitol.  The 
British  Admiral  Cockburn  had  a  special  spite  against 
one  of   the   Washington   newspapers   because   it   had 


228  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

printed  some  bitter  articles  about  his  savage  burning  of 
defenseless  villages  along  the  coast.  "  Burn  that  of- 
fice," he  commanded,  "  and  be  sure  that  all  the  C's  are 
destroyed,  so  that  the  rascals  cannot  abuse  my  name  any 
longer.''  It  is  said  that  he  jumped  down  from  his  horse 
and  kindled  the  fire  with  his  own  hand. 

At  night  a  fearful  tempest  swrept  over  the  city.  Trees 
were  blown  down  and  houses  were  unroofed.  When  the 
storm  burst,  Mrs.  Madison  was  pleading  for  shelter  at  a 
little  tavern  sixteen  miles  from  Washington.  She  had 
seen  the  President,  and  he  had  told  her  to  meet  him  at 
this  place.  The  house  was  full  of  people  who  had  fled 
from  the  city.  "  Stay  out,"  they  cried.  "  Tour  husband 
brought  on  this  war,  and  his  wife  shall  have  no  shelter 
in  the  same  house  with  us."  At  last,  however,  they  let 
her  in.  The  President  found  his  way  to  her  later,  almost 
exhausted;  but  before  he  had  had  an  hour  of  rest,  a 
man  threw  open  the  door,  so  out  of  breath  that  he  could 
only  gasp,  "  The  British  —  they  know  you  are  here  — 
fly  !  "  Mrs.  Madison  begged  him  to  go,  and  finally  he 
yielded  and  escaped  to  a  little  hut  in  the  woods  where 
he  could  be  safe.  "I  will  disguise  myself  and  go  to 
some  safer  place,"  she  promised ;  and  in  the  first  gray  of 
the  morning  she  left  the  tavern.  On  the  way  she  heard 
the  best  of  news :  "  The  British  heard  that  reinforce- 
ments were  coming  and  they  have  gone  to  their  ships." 
Then  she  turned  around  and  drove  toward  the  city ;  bv* 


DOLLY  MADISON  229 

when  she  came  to  the  bridge  over  the  Potomac,  it  was 
afire.  An  American  officer  stood  by.  "  Will  you  row 
me  across  the  river  ?  "  she  begged,  for  a  little  boat  was 


THE  STUART  PORTRAIT  OF  WASHINGTON 

moored  to  the  bank.    "No,"  he  replied,  "we  don't  i^ 
strange  women  into  the  city."   In  vain  she  pleaded,  bu> 
he  was  firm.  "  Who  knows  what  you  are  ?  "  he  demanded 
roughly.   "  We  have  had  spies  enough  here.   How  do  I 


230  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

know  but  the  British  have  sent  you  to  burn  what  they 

left?    You  will  not  cross  the  river,  —  that  is  sure." 

"But  I  am  Mrs.  Madison,  the  wife  of  your  Presi- 
dent," she  said,  and  threw  off  her  disguise. 

Even  then  he  could  hardly  be  persuaded  to  row  her 
across,  but  finally  he  yielded.  Through  clouds  of  smoke 
she  made  her  way  past  heaps  of  smouldering  ruins  to 
the  home  of  her  sister,  where  she  awaited  the  coming 
of  the  President. 

Such  were  five  days  in  the  life  of  a  "  first  lady  of  the 
land." 

OUTLINE 

The  President's  farewell  to  his  wife  —  cause  for  anxiety  —  trea- 
sures in  the  White  House  —  a  warning  sent  to  Mrs.  Madison  — 
she  makes  ready  to  leave  —  what  she  sees  from  the  windows  —  a 
wagon  is  packed  —  she  saves  the  portrait  of  Washington  —  be- 
havior of  the  British  in  Washington  —  Mrs.  Madison  in  the  storm 
—  the  President  comes  to  her  —  he  hides  in  the  woods  —  Mrs. 
Madison  hears  good  news  —  difficulty  in  crossing  the  Potomac  —• 
she  finds  safety. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

Mrs.  Madison  tells  what  she  saw  from  the  windows  with  her 
glass. 

Saving  Washington's  portrait. 

Mrs.  Madison  tells  her  sister  of  her  experience  in  the  storm. 


THE   STAR-SPANGLED   BANNER  231 


THE   STAE-SPANGLED  BANKER 

I  1ST  1814,  while  the  War  of  1812  was  still  going  on, 
the  people  of  Maryland  were  in  great  trouble,  for  a 
British  fleet  had  sailed  into  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  can- 
non would  be  aimed  at  some  town,  but  no  one  knew 
which.  The  ships  sailed  up  one  river,  then  came  back 
and  sailed  up  another,  as  if  they  had  not  decided  where 
to  go.  The  people  who  lived  on  the  banks  of  these 
rivers  fired  alarm  guns  and  lighted  signal  fires  to  let 
those  who  lived  inland  know  that  danger  was  near.  The 
ships  lingered,  hesitated,  then  suddenly  spread  all  sail 
and  ran  to  the  north  up  the  Bay.  "  They  will  surely 
attack  us,"  thought  the  people  of  Annapolis,  and  they 
crammed  their  household  goods  into  wagons  and  carts, 
even  into  wheelbarrows,  and  hurried  away  to  the  coun- 
try as  fast  as  they  could.  But  the  ships  sailed  past 
Annapolis.  Then  there  was  no  question  which  town  was 
to  be  attacked ;  it  was  Baltimore. 

As  the  fleet  sailed  on,  General  Eoss,  the  British  com- 
mander, spoke  of  his  plans.  "  I  shall  have  my  winter 
quarters  in  Baltimore,"  he  said. 

"  What  about  the  American  militia,  general  ? "  asked 
one  of  his  officers  playfully. 

"  Militia  ?  "  replied  Eoss  ;  "  I  don't  care  a  straw  if  it 
rains  militia." 


232.  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

The  fleet  landed  the  soldiers  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Patapsco  River,  and  sailed  up  stream  toward  the  town. 
The  men  marched  up  the  river  for  five  miles.  They  met 
a  force  of  American  militia,  and  there  was  a  sharp  fight 
for  two  or  three  hours;  then  the  Americans  retreated. 
"  There  will  be  no  great  trouble  in  taking  the  town  in 
the  morning,"  thought  the  leader;  "and  we  will  camp 
here  to-night."  When  morning  came,  he  found  that, 
however  it  might  be  about  taking  the  town,  he  would 
have  some  trouble  in  getting  to  it;  for  the  Americans 
had  dug  ditches,  and  dragged  heavy  logs  across  the 
road.  It  took  the  whole  day  to  get  in  sight  of  the  place ; 
and  then  they  found  it  anything  but  an  agreeable  sight, 
for  all  along  the  hills  above  the  city  was  a  heavy  line 
of  entrenchments.  There  seemed  to  be  plenty  of  men 
behind  the  entrenchments,  and  the  British  concluded 
that  they  would  not  take  possession  of  their  winter 
quarters  at  once.  They  thought  it  would  be  pleasanter 
to  wait  at  least  until  after  dark,  when  they  would  not  be 
so  plainly  seen  from  the  forts.  "  The  cannon  on  our 
ships  will  surely  silence  Fort  McHenry  and  the  other 
forts  and  batteries  by  that  time,"  they  said. 

"While  the  soldiers  were  stumbling  over  logs  and  roll- 
ing into  hidden  ditches,  the  cannon  on  the  British  ships 
were  firing  as  fast  as  possible.  The  river  was  so  shallow 
that  the  men-of-war  could  not  get  within  range  of  the 
town.    u  We  will  bombard  the  forts,"  they  said.    "  They 


234  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

will  yield  in  a  few  hours,  and  then  our  troops  can  march 
up  and  take  the  city."  For  twenty-four  hours  the  ter- 
rific bombardment  went  on. 

"  If  Fort  McHenry  only  stands,  the  city  is  safe,"  said 
Francis  Scott  Key  to  a  friend,  and  they  gazed  anxiously 
through  the  smoke  to  see  if  the  flag  was  still  flying. 

These  two  men  were  in  the  strangest  place  that  could 
be  imagined.  They  were  in  a  little  American  vessel  fast 
moored  to  the  side  of  the  British  admiral's  flag-ship.  A 
Maryland  doctor  had  been  seized  as  a  prisoner  by  the 
British,  and  the  President  had  given  permission  for 
them  to  go  out  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  ask  for  his 
release.  The  British  commander  finally  decided  that  the 
prisoner  might  be  set  free;  but  he  had  no  idea  of  allow- 
ing the  two  men  to  go  back  to  the  city  and  carry  any 
information.  "  Until  the  attack  on  Baltimore  is  ended, 
you  and  your  boat  must  remain  here,"  he  said. 

The  firing  went  on.  As  long  as  the  daylight  lasted, 
they  could  catch  glimpses  of  the  stars  and  stripes  when- 
ever the  wind  swayed  the  clouds  of  smoke.  When  night 
came  they  could  still  see  the  banner  now  and  then  by 
the  blaze  of  the  cannon.  A  little  after  midnight  the 
firing  stopped.  The  two  men  paced  up  and  down  the 
deck,  straining  their  eyes  to  see  if  the  flag  was  still 
flying.  "  Can  the  fort  have  surrendered?  "  they  ques- 
tioned.   "  Oh,  if  morning  would  only  come !  " 

At  last  the  faint  gray  of  dawn  appeared.    They  could 


THE   STAR-SPANGLED   BANNER  235 

see  that  some  flag  was  flying,  but  it  was  too  dark  to  tell 
which.  More  and  more  eagerly  they  gazed.  It  grew 
lighter,  a  sudden  breath  of  wind  caught  the  flag;  and  it 
floated  out  on  the  breeze.  It  was  no  English  flag,  it  was 
their  own  stars  and  stripes.  The  fort  had  stood,  the  city 
was  safe.  Then  it  was  that  Key  took  from  his  pocket 
an  old  letter  and  on  the  back  of  it  he  wrote  the  poem, 
"  The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  The  British  departed, 
and  the  little  American  boat  went  back  to  the  city.  Mr. 
Key  gave  a  copy  of  the  poem  to  his  uncle,  who  had 
been  helping  to.  defend  the  fort.  The  uncle  sent  it  to  a 
printer,  and  had  it  struck  off  on  some  handbills.  Before 
the  ink  was  dry  the  printer  caught  up  one  and  hurried 
away  to  a  restaurant,  where  many  patriots  were  assem- 
bled. Waving  the  paper,  he  cried,  "  Listen  to  this  !  " 
and  he  read:  — 

"  O  say,  can  you  see  by  the  dawn's  early  light, 
What  so  proudly  we  hailed  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming, 

Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the  perilous  fight, 
O'er  the  ramparts  we  watch'd  were  so  gallantly  streaming? 

And  the  rockets'  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 

Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there. 
O  say,  does  that  star-spangled  banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ?  " 

"  Sing  it !  sing  it !  "  cried  the  whole  company.  Charles 
Durang  mounted  a  chair,  and  then  for  the  first  time 
"  The  Star-Spangled  Banner  "  was  sung.    The  tune  was 


236  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

"  To  Anacreon  in  Heaven,"  an  air  which  had  long  been 
a  favorite.  The  song  was  caught  up  at  once.  Halls, 
theatres,  and  private  houses  rang  with  its  strains. 

The  fleet  was  out  of  sight  even  before  the  poem  was 
printed.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  the  admiral  had 
sent  to  the  British  soldiers  the  message,  "  I  can  do  no- 
thing more,"  and  they  had  hurried  on  board  the  vessels. 
It  was  not  long  before  they  left  Chesapeake  Bay  alto- 
gether, —  perhaps  with  the  new  song  ringing  in  their 
ears  as  they  went. 

OUTLINE 

A  British  fleet  in  Chesapeake  Bay  —  alarm  in  Annapolis  —  plans 
of  General  Ross  —  the  soldiers  land  —  a  sharp  fight  —  British 
plans  for  the  following  morning  —  marching  to  Annapolis  —  why 
the  attack  was  delayed  —  bombarding  the  forts  —  Key  watches 
Fort  McHenry  —  where  he  and  his  friend  were  —  their  anxiety 
through  the  night  —  what  they  saw  "  by  the  dawn's  early  light " 
—  "The  Star- Spangled  Banner"  —  when  it  was  first  sung  —  de- 
parture of  the  fleet. 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

The  alarm  of  the  people  of  Annapolis  at  the  coming  of  the  Brit- 
ish. 

When  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner  "  was  written. 
The  first  singing  of  the  song. 


DAVID   CROCKETT  237 

DAYID   CKOCKETT 

THE  TENNESSEE  PIONEER 

A  FEW  years  before  the  War  of  1812,  there  was  a 
very  homesick  little  boy  in  Virginia.  His  home 
was  only  a  hut  of  logs  in  the  wilderness  of  eastern  Ten- 
nessee, but  the  one  thing  that  he  wanted  most  was  to 
see  it  again.  His  father  had  hired  him  to  a  drover  to 
help  drive  some  cattle  a  journey  of  four  hundred  miles. 
]So  plan  was  made  for  his  return,  but  the  twelve-year- 
old  boy  made  one  for  himself.  He  soon  found  that  the 
only  means  of  getting  away  from  the  drover  was  to  run 
away.  One  stormy  night  he  tramped  seven  miles  through 
the  snow  to  join  a  man  who  was  going  toward  his  home; 
but  the  man  went  so  slowly  that  the  impatient  boy  pushed 
on  ahead  and  made  much  of  the  long  journey  alone. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  his  adventures.  From 
that  time  until  he  was  fifteen  he  drove  cattle,  did  farm 
work,  and  contrived  somehow  to  get  enough  money  to- 
gether to  buy  a  rifle.  When  he  was  fifteen  he  concluded 
that  he  ought  to  know  something  of  books;  so  he  began 
to  go  to  school  four  days  in  the  week,  working  two  days 
for  his  board.  In  six  months  he  learned  to  read  a  little, 
to  write  his  name,  and  to  do  easy  examples  in  addition, 
subtraction,  division,  and  multiplication;  and  that  was 
all  the  "  schooling  "  that  he  ever  had.   When  he  was 


238  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

eighteen  his  property  consisted  of  a  snit  of  coarse 
homespun,  a  rifle,  and  a  horse  that  he  had  not  paid  for. 
The  next  thing  that  he  did  was  to  get  a  wife;  but  it  did 


THE  MARRIAGE  OF  DAVID  CROCKETT 


not  seem  to  occur  to  him  until  after  the  wedding  that  he 
had  no  home  for  the  pretty  little  girl  of  seventeen  who 
had  married  him.    They  looked  about  them,  found  a  log 


DAVID   CROCKETT  239 

cabin  that  some  one  had  left,  and  moved  in.  The  bride's 
parents  gave  them  two  cows  and  two  calves.  A  man  for 
whom  David  had  worked  lent  them  fifteen  dollars  with 
which  to  furnish  their  house. 

One  day,  three  or  four  years  later,  David  said  to  his 
wife,  "  Let  us  go  to  western  Tennessee.  The  land  here 
is  all  taken  up,  but  there  we  can  have  four  hundred 
acres  if  we  build  a  house  and  plant  some  corn."  The 
little  wife  was  willing  to  go  wherever  her  husband 
wished  and  they  set  out.  She  and  her  two  little  boys 
rode  on  the  horse.  The  furs  that  they  used  for  bedding, 
their  few  dishes,  and  their  spinning  wheel  were  put 
upon  the  backs  of  David's  two  colts ;  and  so  the  family 
made  a  journey  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through 
the  wilderness.  Then  David  built  a  log  house,  made  a 
table  and  some  three-legged  stools,  drove  some  pegs 
into  the  walls  to  hang  their  clothes  on,  if  they  happened 
to  have  any  that  they  were  not  wearing,  and  they  were 
at  home.  David  was  a  remarkably  good  marksman, 
and  they  had  plenty  of  venison  and  wild  turkey.  There 
was  a  stream  at  hand  that  was  full  of  fish.  No  one  need 
starve  in  such  a  place. 

But  David  was  restless.  In  two  years  he  moved 
again.  Then  came  the  War  of  1812.  There  was  trouble 
with  the  Indians  in  Alabama,  and  he  volunteered  as  a 
soldier.  The  Indians  wished  to  be  friendly,  but  some 
rascally  white  men  had  been  stealing  from  them  and  had 


240  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

even  shot  some  of  them.  At  last  the  Indians  began  to 
pay  back.  They  made  an  attack  upon  a  fort  and  killed 
almost  every  one  in  it.  The  whole  region  was  aroused. 
"  I  am  going  to  help  fight  the  Indians/'  said  David  to 
his  wife. 

"  But  what  can  we  do  if  they  come  upon  us  ?  "  she 
exclaimed.  "  We  are  hundreds  of  miles  from  my  friends. 
If  anything  should  happen  to  you,  we  should  starve." 

So  she  pleaded,  but  David  replied,  "  I  ought  to  go. 
I  owe  it  to  my  country.  Moreover,  if  we  do  not  punish 
them,  they  will  kill  us  all."   And  away  he  went. 

So  it  was  that  he  became  a  soldier.  He  was  a  great 
favorite,  and  no  wonder,  for  he  was  not  only  a  daring 
fighter  but  a  good  hunter.  After  a  little  while  the  of- 
ficers said  one  to  another,  "  We  may  as  well  let  Crockett 
do  what  he  pleases,  he  always  comes  out  right."  So 
after  that  this  independent  soldier  did  just  what  he 
chose.  He  would  slip  away  from  the  line  of  march  and 
come  back,  perhaps  with  a  turkey  that  he  had  shot. 
Even  a  squirrel  was  welcome  in  those  hungry  days,  and 
whatever  David  had  he  was  ready  to  share.  No  one 
could  help  liking  him,  for  he  was  so  generous  and  so 
full  of  fun.   Wherever  he  went  there  were  good  times. 

David  was  a  strong  man,  but  there  came  a  time  when 
he  suddenly  became  very  ill  many  miles  from  camp. 
As  he  lay  under  a  tree,  some  Indians  came  that  way. 
They  stopped  and  looked  at  him.   He  had  powder  and 


DAVID   CROCKETT  241 

bullets  and  a  rifle,  the  three  things  that  they  cared  for 
most;  but,  instead  of  taking  them  and  walking  off,  they 
said  by  signs, "  Sick  ?   Eat  this;  "  and  they  held  a  piece 


CROCKETT  ON  THE  MARCH 

of  melon  to  his  lips.  He  felt  so  badly  that  he  could  not 
eat  even  that.  Then  one  of  them  said,  "  You  will  die 
and  be  buried  if  you  do  not  eat."  Another  said,  "  Come, 
I  will  go  with  you  and  carry  your  gun;  "  and  they  all 
went  with  him  to  the  nearest  house,  a  mile  and  a  half 
away. 

He  was  sick  for  several  weeks,  but  at  last  he  found 
his  way  home.  A  little  later  his  wife  and  the  youngest 
child  were  again  on  horseback,  for  now  David  was  go- 


242  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

ing  to  southern  Tennessee.  Other  settlers  came  there, 
some  thieves  among  them.  "We  must  have  a  justice  of 
the  peace,"  the  settlers  declared.  "  Let 's  take  Crockett." 
So  the  hunter  became  a  magistrate.  He  had  never  read 
a  page  of  a  law  book,  but  he  had  a  good  deal  of  common 
sense,  and  he  did  just  what  he  thought  was  fair.  When 
a  man  was  accused  of  stealing  anything,  this  new  justice 
would  say,  "  Catch  that  fellow  and  bring  him  up  for 
trial."  Then  if  he  proved  to  be  the  thief,  Crockett 
would  order,  "  Tie  him  up  and  give  him  a  whipping." 
By  and  by  Crockett  was  made  a  magistrate  by  law,  and 
now  he  was  in  trouble ;  for  he  was  told  that  his  warrant 
for  arresting  men  must  be  in  what  he  called  "  real  writ- 
ing," and  he  could  hardly  scribble  his  own  name.  He 
got  over  this  difficulty  by  saying  to  the  constable, 
"  Whenever  you  see  that  a  warrant  is  necessary,  you 
need  n't  come  all  the  way  to  me.  Just  fill  one  out,  and 
if  it  is  n't  right,  I'll  change  it."  Then  the  justice  went 
to  work,  and  before  long  he  could  not  only  write  a  war- 
rant but  keep  his  record  book. 

But  he  was  growing  restless  again,  and  soon  he  made 
another  move.  This  time  he  built  his  cabin  seven  miles 
from  the  nearest  neighbor.  To  this  lonely  place  a  man 
came  one  day  and  showed  him  a  newspaper.  It  said  that 
Crockett  was  a  candidate  for  the  legislature.  "  They 
mean  that  for  a  joke  on  me,"  said  Crockett,  "  but  I  '11 
make  them  pay  for  it."   So  he  set  out  to  persuade  people 


DAVID   CROCKETT  243 

that  he  was  the  one  they  wanted  to  help  make  their  laws ; 
and  when  the  time  came  to  vote,  David  Crockett  was 
elected. 

By  and  by  the  backwoodsman  and  two  well  educated 
men  were  nominated  for  Congress.  At  a  meeting 
Crockett  spoke  first  and  then  was  followed  by  the  other 
two.  They  tried  to  answer  each  other,  but  said  not  a 
word  about  Crockett.  One  of  these  had  been  much  an- 
noyed while  making  his  speech  by  some  guinea  hens, 
and  at  last  had  asked  to  have  them  driven  away.  As 
soon  as  he  stopped  speaking,  Crockett  called  out,  "  Gen- 
eral, you  had  not  the  politeness  to  allude  to  me  in  your 
speech.  But  when  my  little  friends,  the  guinea  hens, 
came  up  and  began  to  holler,  '  Crockett,  Crockett, 
Crockett,'  you  were  ungenerous  enough  to  drive  them 
all  away."  This  raised  a  laugh.  When  the  time  came 
to  vote,  Crockett  was  elected;  and  later  he  set  out  in 
the  old  stagecoach  for  Washington. 

Now  David  Crockett  could  write,  but  he  had  learned 
little  more  from  books.  He  had,  however,  learned  a 
good  deal  from  people.  He  said  before  he  went  to  the 
legislature,  "  If  any  one  had  come  along  and  told  me 
he  was  '  the  government,'  I  should  have  believed  him." 
But  he  had  kept  his  ears  open,  he  had  asked  questions, 
and,  best  of  all,  he  had  done  a  great  amount  of  thinking, 
and  had  his  own  opinion  on  all  questions  of  the  day, 
General  Jackson  was  the  "  big  man  "  of  his  party,  and 


244  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Crockett  voted  for  whatever  bills  he  proposed  until 
one  was  brought  forward  that  he  did  not  think  just.  He 
voted  against  that  one.  After  his  term  in  Congress  was 
over,  he  made  a  little  speech,  explaining  why  he  had  not 
followed  the  general.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  there 
was  once  a  boy  whose  master  told  him  to  plow  across 
the  field  to  a  red  cow.  Well,  he  began  to  plow  and  she 
began  to  walk;  and  he  plowed  all  the  forenoon  after 
her.  When  the  master  came,  he  swore  at  him  for  going 
so  crooked.  '  Why,  sir,'  said  the  boy,  '  you  told  me  to 
plow  to  the  red  cow,  and  I  kept  after  her,  but  she  al- 
ways kept  moving.'  " 

People  liked  Crockett  not  only  because  he  could  tell 
funny  stories  and  make  them  all  laugh,  but  because  he 
was  so  honest  and  truthful  and  brave;  because  he  had 
so  much  common  sense  and  was  so  reasonable ;  and  be- 
cause he  was  so  kind  and  friendly  and  generous  to 
every  one.  He  was  petted  and  praised  wherever  he 
went.  Presents  were  given  him,  he  was  invited  to  din- 
ners and  treated  with  the  utmost  honor.  Crowds  came 
together  to  hear  him  speak,  and  he  was  always  cheered 
and  applauded. 

But  now  a  great  disappointment  came  to  the  congress- 
man. He  had  expected  to  be  elected  again,  and  perhaps 
some  day  to  be  made  President;  but  the  people  who 
voted  for  him  in  the  first  place  were  friends  of  General 
Jackson,  and  they  would  not  elect  any  one  who  was 


DAVID   CROCKETT  245 

against  him.  Crockett  had  seen  his  last  days  in  Congress. 
He  went  home  and  wrote,  "  Here,  like  the  wearied  bird, 
let  me  settle  down  for  awhile,  and  shut  out  the  world." 
But  he  was  soon  uneasy  and  restless.  War  was  going 
on  with  Mexico,  and  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode 
away  to  help  carry  it  on.  He  fought  furiously,  but 
finally  was  taken  prisoner.  The  Mexican  President  had 
ordered  that  all  prisoners  should  be  put  to  death,  so 
David  Crockett  never  returned  to  the  little  log  house  in 
the  Tennessee  wilderness. 

OUTLINE 

The  first  adventure  of  David  Crockett  —  his  next  three  years  — 
his  short  school  life  —  his  property  at  eighteen  —  his  marriage  and 
home — plans  to  go  to  western  Tennessee  —  the  journey — the 
new  home  —  trouble  with  the  Indians  —  he  becomes  a  soldier  — 
his  independence  —  kindness  of  the  Indians  when  he  was  ill  — 
he  becomes  a  magistrate  —  how  he  treated  thieves  —  his  plan  to 
avoid  writing  —  he  becomes  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  and  is 
elected  —  Crockett  and  the  guinea  hens  —  what  he  learned  —  his 
story  of  the  red  cow  —  why  people  liked  him  —  why  he  was  not 
reelected  —  he  fights  in  Mexico  —  is  put  to  death. 

SUGGESTIONS    FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

How  David  ran  away. 

The  home  of  the  Crocketts  in  western  Tennessee. 

The  friendly  Indians. 


246  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

CHEISTOPHEE  CAESON 

TRAPPER  AND  GUIDE 

WHILE  the  War  of  1812  was  going  on,  a  family 
in  Missouri  were  aroused  one  night  by  a  light 
knock  at  the  door,  and  a  hoarse  whisper,  "  Indians  ! " 
The  father  of  the  family  caught  up  his  gun,  the  mother 
dressed  the  children  as  well  as  she  could  in  the  darkness, 
and  the  whole  family  hurried  to  the  log  fort. 

Kit  Carson  was  one  of  these  children,  and  this  scene 
was  among  the  earliest  of  his  memories.  It  was  an  excit- 
ing life  for  a  little  boy,  and  he  must  have  felt  that  his 
days  were  dull  enough  when  his  father  apprenticed 
him  to  a  saddler  and  hour  after  hour  he  had  to  sit  and 
stitch  on  saddles  and  harnesses.  He  did  his  work  well, 
but  two  years  later,  when  he  was  eighteen,  he  had  a 
chance  to  do  something  that  he  liked  much  better.  A 
company  were  going  to  carry  goods  from  eastern  Mis- 
souri to  the  Spanish  town  of  Santa  Fe,  and  he  went 
with  them.  He  did  not  return  with  them,  however,  but 
pushed  on  farther  into  the  mountains.  When  he  was 
hungry,  he  shot  a  bird  or  a  squirrel  or  a  turkey  or,  per- 
haps, a  deer.  When  night  came,  he  made  a  little  shel- 
ter of  bark  and  boughs.  In  the  mountains  he  chanced  to 
meet  a  hunter  who  had  built  himself  a  hut  and  meant  to 
spend  the  winter.    Kit  agreed  to  stay  with  him.    With 


CHRISTOPHER   CARSON  247 

plenty  of  furs  and  wood,  they  were  sure  of  being  warm; 
and  with  their  rifles  there  was  no  trouble  about  keeping 
the  table  well  supplied.  He  studied  Spanish  with  his 
new  friend,  and  studied 
so  hard  that  when  spring 
came  he  could  speak  the 
language  with  ease. 

In  the  spring  Kit 
started  to  go  home,  but 
on  the  way  he  met  some 
traders.  When  they 
found  that  he  had  been 
over  the  trail  twice,  they 
asked,  "  Will  you  turn 
back  and  be  our  guide ?" 
The  next  question  was, 
"  Can  you  speak  Span- 
ish ? "  Kit  answered 
yes  to  both  questions, 
and  they  offered  him  large  pay  if  he  would  go  with 
them  not  only  as  guide  but  as  interpreter.  This  was 
just  what  he  wanted  to  do,  so  back  he  went  to  Santa  Fe. 

His  next  business  was  hunting  and  trapping.  He 
would  start  off  for  a  month  or  more  with  a  horse  to  ride 
and  a  mule  to  carry  the  luggage.  He  wore  trousers  and 
hunting  shirt,  or  tunic,  of  deerskin,  often  cut  into  fringe 
at  the  bottom  and  ornamented  with  embroidery  of  por- 


CHRISTOPHER  CARSON 


248  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

cupine  quills.  On  his  feet  were  thick  moccasins.  Of 
course  he  had  a  rifle,  plenty  of  powder  and  bullets,  and 
a  sharp  knife  stuck  into  a  sheath  at  his  belt.  The  mule 
carried  more  ammunition,  a  blanket  or  two,  iron  traps, 
and  an  extra  knife  and  hatchet.  Carson  was  in  search  of 
beaver,  and  when  he  saw  their  dams  in  a  stream  he  chose 
some  place  near  for  his  camp.  To  make  his  house  he 
drove  two  strong  stakes  into  the  ground  and  two  shorter 
ones  back  of  them.  On  top  of  these  stakes  he  laid 
boughs  and  bark  for  a  roof.  The  walls  were  also  made 
of  bark.  In  half  a  day  he  could  build  this  shed,  open  on 
one  side.  His  bed  was  a  fur  robe  or  a  blanket  spread 
upon  hemlock  branches.  There  was  plenty  to  eat  in  the 
stream  and  the  forest,  so  when  the  house  was  built  he 
set  his  beaver  traps.  Every  morning  he  went  to  examine 
them.  He  skinned  the  beavers  that  had  been  caught, 
stretched  the  skins  out  to  dry,  and  when  he  had  as  many 
skins  as  his  mule  could  carry,  he  went  back  to  the  set- 
tlement and  sold  them. 

For  several  years  he  lived  as  trapper  and  guide.  He 
had  all  sorts  of  adventures.  Once  when  he  was  alone  in 
the  woods  he  shot  an  elk,  but  before  he  could  load  his 
gun  again  he  heard  angry  growls  behind  him.  They 
came  from  two  big  grizzly  bears  that  were  rushing  to- 
ward him.  Of  course  he  ran  for  a  tree,  and  swung  him- 
self up  among  the  branches,  but  only  a  moment  before 
one  bear  struck  a  fierce  blow  with  his  paw.    Unluckily, 


CHRISTOPHER  CARSON  249 

grizzly  bears  can  climb 
trees,  as  Kit  well  knew; 
but  these  two  waited  a 
minute,  as  if  deciding 
which  should  go  first. 
In  that  minute  the  hunter 
had  pulled  out  his  sharp 
knife,  cut  off  a  stout 
branch  and  made  it  into 
a  cudgel.  He  knew  that 
while  a  grizzly  bear  does 
not  object  seriously  to  be- 
ing peppered  with  shot, 
he  is  very  sensitive  to 
even  a  scratch  on  the 
end  of  his  nose.  There- 
fore, when  the  first  bear 
began  to  climb,  Kit  Car- 
son gave  him  a  tremen- 
dous blow  right  on  his 
sensitive  nose.  The  bear 
dropped  to  the  ground 
howling  and  roaring. 
The  other  one  tried  it, 
but  in  a  minute  he,  too, 
was  howling  with  the 
pain  in  the  end  of  his  precious  nose.    They  glared  up 


CARSON  TREED  BY  A  BEAR 


250  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

into  the  tree  at  the  man  with  the  cudgel.  They  growled 
at  him,  they  snarled,  and  they  roared;  but  neither  of 
them  cared  to  meet  the  stick  again.  At  last  they  con- 
cluded that  they  would  have  to  get  their  dinner  some- 
where else,  so  they  trotted  away  together,  still  growling 
and  occasionally  looking  back  over  their  shoulders. 

There  was  always  danger  from  Indians.  Kit  Carson 
treated  them  fairly  and  kindly,  but  there  were  many 
other  men  who  stole  from  them  and  shot  them  as  if 
they  were  wild  beasts.  The  Indians  looked  upon  all 
white  men  as  belonging  to  one  tribe,  and,  therefore,  if 
a  white  man  had  injured  them,  they  thought  it  was  only 
justice  to  punish  any  other  white  man  whom  they  could 
catch.  When  the  hunters  made  a  camp,  they  had  to 
keep  close  guard  or  their  horses  would  be  stolen.  Once, 
when  Kit  Carson  was  with  a  party  of  hunters,  they 
found  one  morning  that  the  Indians  had  crept  up  in 
the  night  and  carried  away  eighteen  horses.  Carson 
and  eleven  other  men  galloped  after  them,  and  at  the 
end  of  a  fifty-mile  ride  came  upon  them.  It  was  noon, 
and  the  Indians  had  stopped  to  rest  the  animals.  When 
they  saw  the  white  men,  one  Indian  came  toward  them 
unarmed.  That  meant,  "  I  want  to  talk  with  you."  Kit 
Carson,  also  unarmed,  went  toward  the  Indian,  and  this 
meant,  "  I  am  ready  to  listen."  The  Indian  said,  "  We 
never  thought  those  horses  were  yours;  we  supposed 
they  belonged  to  the  Snake  Indians,  our  enemies.    The 


CHRISTOPHER   CARSON  251 

white  men  are  our  friends,  and  we  should  not  think  of 
injuring  them."  Not  a  word  did  they  say  about  giving 
back  the  horses. 

When  they  were  through  speaking,  Kit  Carson  said, 
"  I  am  glad  that  you  are  our  friends.  We  are  willing  to 
forgive  the  mistake.  We  will  take  our  horses  and  go 
away."  But  no  horses  were  brought.  He  insisted,  and 
at  length  they  brought  five  of  the  poorest  that  they  had 
stolen.  "  That  is  all,"  they  said.  "  We  will  bring  no 
more."  Then  both  parties  seized  their  rifles,  and  every 
man  tried  to  get  behind  a  tree.  There  was  a  long  fight, 
but  at  last  the  Indians  fled.  All  the  red  men  who  knew 
Carson  liked  him,  and  often,  instead  of  shooting  them 
or  trying  to  keep  them  from  shooting  him,  he  acted  as 
peacemaker  among  them.  It  happened  once  that  the 
Sioux  had  been  hunting  on  the  land  of  the  Comanches, 
and  the  two  tribes  had  fought  several  battles.  The  chief 
of  the  Comanches  sent  to  Carson  and  said,  "  Will  you 
not  come  to  help  us  and  lead  us  against  the  Sioux?" 
Carson  went  to  them,  but,  instead  of  leading  them 
to  war,  he  persuaded  the  Sioux  to  leave  the  hunting 
ground  of  the  Comanches,  and  there  was  no  more  fight- 
ing. 

After  sixteen  years  of  such  life,  he  went  back  to  his 
old  home  in  Missouri;  but  many  of  his  friends  were  dead 
and  the  place  was  so  changed  that  he  soon  left  it  and 
started  to  return  to  the  west.    On  the  steamboat  going 


252  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

up  the  Missouri,  he  met  Lieutenant  John  C.  Fremont, 
whom  the  government  had  sent  to  explore  the  country 
west  of  Missouri.  His  guide  had  failed  him,  and  he  was 
glad  to  engage  Carson. 

Then  Carson  became  a  messenger.  He  went  alone 
for  three  or  four  hundred  miles,  although  he  knew  that 
the  Indians  were  angry  with  the  whites,  and  would  be 
likely  to  kill  even  him  if  they  could  catch  him.  He  went 
on  two  other  expeditions  with  Fremont,  and  twice  made 
the  long  journey  to  Washington  with  letters  from  him 
to  the  President.  It  must  have  seemed  very  strange  to 
the  hunter  to  be  the  guest  of  honor  at  dinners  and  re- 
ceptions and  to  meet  all  the  "  great  folk  "  of  "Washing- 
ton and  St.  Louis;  but  he  was  so  gentle  and  courteous 
that  every  one  liked  him,  and  he  was  so  simple  and  sin- 
cere and  so  forgetful  of  himself  that  he  could  not  be 
awkward. 

After  Carson  went  back  to  Santa  Fe,  he  bought  a 
large  farm,  or  ranch,  in  New  Mexico,  and  there  he  lived 
with  his  wife,  a  Mexican  lady,  and  their  children.  He 
did  other  things  besides  managing  his  ranch.  Once  he 
spent  many  weeks  driving  a  flock  of  more  than  six  thou- 
sand sheep  from  his  home  to  California.  He  could  not 
have  done  this  if  he  had  not  known  so  well  in  which 
direction  to  go  and  just  where  to  find  water  and  good 
pasture.  Once  he  brought  together  eighteen  of  his  old 
friends,  and  they  went  off  on  a  trapping  excursion  up 


CHRISTOPHER   CARSON"  253 

the  South  Platte  River.  They  had  not  lost  their  skill, 
and  they  came  back  with  a  great  quantity  of  furs. 

The  government  appointed  Carson  Indian  agent,  and 
no  better  man  could  have  been  found.  Almost  all  the 
tribes  knew  him,  and  called  him  "  Father  Kit."  The 
good  ones  loved  him,  but  the  bad  ones  were  much 
afraid  of  him;  for  if  they  attacked  the  white  men,  he 
was  sure  to  punish  them.  Sometimes  when  he  heard 
that  the  Indians  were  planning  a  war,  he  went  straight 
to  their  encampment  and  talked  with  them  as  if  they 
had  been  his  children.  "  You  have  hundreds  of  war- 
riors," he  would  say,  "  but  the  Great  Father  in  Wash- 
ington has  thousands.  You  will  kill  some  of  his  soldiers, 
but  he  has  plenty  more  to  call  out,  and  in  the  end  they 
will  kill  all  your  warriors.  Why  do  you  make  him  fight 
you?  He  does  not  want  to  fight.  He  wants  to  help 
you,  and  to  have  you  help  him."  The  Indians  would 
almost  always  yield;  and  if  all  the  white  people  had 
treated  them  as  fairly  and  reasonably  as  did  Kit  Carson, 
there  would  have  been  few  Indian  wars. 

]^ot  long  before  Carson's  death  the  story  of  his  life 
was  written,  and  the  book  was  read  to  him.  His  doctor 
said  afterwards :  "  It  was  wonderful  to  read  of  the  stir- 
ring scenes,  thrilling  deeds,  and  narrow  escapes,  and 
then  look  at  the  quiet,  modest,  retiring,  but  dignified 
little  man  who  had  done  so  much.  .  .  .  He  was  one  of 
nature's  noblemen,  pure,  honorable,  truthful,  sincere." 


254  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

OUTLINE 

Carson's  early  memories  —  he  is  apprenticed  to  a  saddler  —  he 
goes  to  Santa  Fe  —  spends  the  winter  in  the  wilderness  —  learns 
Spanish  —  he  becomes  a  guide  and  interpreter  —  his  hunter's 
dress  and  outfit  —  building  his  house  —  catching  beavers  —  his 
adventure  with  the  bears  —  why  there  was  danger  from  Indians 
—  he  pursues  the  horse-thieves  —  he  acts  as  peacemaker  among 
the  Indians  —  his  return  to  Missouri  —  he  meets  Fremont  and 
aids  in  his  explorations  —  he  is  honored  in  Washington  and  St. 
Louis  —  buys  a  ranch  in  New  Mexico  —  his  journey  with  the 
sheep  —  his  last  beaver  hunt  —  he  becomes  Indian  agent  —  he 
hears  the  story  of  his  life. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

What  was  Carson  thinking  of  while  he  stitched  on  saddles  ? 

Carson's  life  when  on  a  beaver  hunt. 

The  bears'  story  of  their  meeting  with  Carson. 


ABKAHAM  LINCOLN 

PIONEER  AND   PRESIDENT 

ONCE  upon  a  time  a  family  of  settlers  named  Lin- 
coln lived  in  a  log  house  in  Indiana.  It  was  hardly 
more  than  a  shed,  for  it  had  neither  floor  nor  windows. 
It  had  a  doorway,  but  the  only  door  was  a  curtain  of 
bear-skins.  There  was  one  boy  in  the  family,  a  little 
fellow  of  seven  years  named  Abraham.  "  My  son  is 
going  to  have  an  education,"  the  father  used  to  say. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  255 

"  He  is  going  to  cipher  clear  through  the  arithmetic." 
The  boy  went  to  school  for  a  little  while,  and  learned  to 
read  and  write.  His  mother  taught  him  what  she  could. 
Among  other  things  she  told  him  about  the  War  of  1812, 
that  had  just  come  to  an  end,  and  about  the  hardships 


THE  BOYHOOD  OF   ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  soldiers.  "  Everybody  ought  to  be  good  to  the 
soldiers,"  she  used  to  say.  The  child  listened  gravely, 
and  one  day,  when  he  had  been  fishing,  he  came  home 
empty  handed  because  he  had  given  his  string  of  fish  to 
a  soldier  whom  he  met  on  the  road. 

When  he  was  only  eight  years  old  his  mother  died, 
and  then  the  house  was  lonely  indeed.    After  a  time  his 


256  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

father  married  again.  The  stepmother  loved  the  little 
boy,  and  did  all  she  could  to  help  him.  He  went  to 
school  only  six  months  in  his  life,  but  he  borrowed 
every  book  that  he  heard  of  in  the  country  for  fifty 
miles  around.  He  used  to  read  them  aloud  to  his  step- 
mother, and  talk  over  with  her  what  he  did  not  under- 
stand. He  was  not  quick  to  learn,  but  he  never  gave  up 
a  sentence  until  he  had  found  out  what  it  meant.  Some 
of  these  books  were  Robinson  Crusoe,  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress, JEsojfs  Fables,  the  Bible,  a  life  of  Washington, 
and  a  history  of  the  United  States.  One  other  book  was 
a  copy  of  the  Statutes  of  Indiana.  He  read  these  laws 
over  and  over  again  until  he  knew  almost  the  whole 
volume  by  heart.  In  this  book  were  also  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  He  made  himself  some  ink  of  roots,  and  cut  a 
turkey  quill  into  a  pen.  For  paper  he  used  a  shingle. 
Then,  when  he  was  going  to  work  in  the  field,  he  wrote 
a  paragraph  from  the  book  on  the  wood,  and  whenever 
he  stopped  a  minute  to  rest,  he  pulled  out  his  shingle 
and  read  a  little  to  think  over  when  he  was  working. 

"I  should  like  to  be  a  lawyer,"  he  said  to  himself; 
but  even  when  he  was  twenty-one  it  did  not  seem  as  if 
he  would  ever  be  able  to  carry  out  his  wish.  Indeed, 
he  himself  thought  that  it  might  be  a  good  thing  for 
him  to  become  a  blacksmith,  because  he  was  so  tall  — 
six  feet  and  four  inches  —  and  so  strong.    His  father 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  257 

needed  help,  however,  for  he  was  just  moving  to  a  new 
farm  in  Illinois,  and  there  was  much  for  them  both  to 
do.  After  building  a  new  log  house,  the  next  thing 
was  to  cut  down  some  of  the  tall  walnut-trees  and  split 
them   into  rails  for  a  fence.    How  Abraham  Lincoln 


THE  EARLY  HOME  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

would  have  opened  his  eyes  if  some  one  had  whispered 
what  those  rails  would  be  used  for  thirty  years  later ! 

The  next  thing  that  the  young  man  did  was  to  help 
a  man  build  a  flatboat  and  float  a  load  of  goods  down 
the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  On  their  return,  he 
"  hired  out "  to  work  in  this  man's  store,  but  in  a  year 
the  store  was  closed.  Just  at  that  time  the  Black  Hawk 
Indian  War  broke  out,  and  Lincoln  volunteered.    The 


258  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

men  of  his  company  chose  him  captain,  and  he  was  much 
pleased,  though  he  had  little  notion  how  to  drill  them. 
He  always  had  his  wits  about  him,  however,  and  could 
generally  find  a  way  out  of  his  difficulties.  One  day  his 
company  were  marching  across  a  field  four  abreast 
when  they  came  to  a  gate.  The  new  captain  had  not 
the  slightest  idea  what  command  to  give  to  get  them 
into  single  file  so  they  could  go  through,  or,  as  he 
put  it,  to  get  them  "through  the  gate  endwise;  "  so  he 
shouted,  "  The  company  is  dismissed  for  two  minutes, 
when  it  will  fail  in  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate." 
The  war  lasted  only  a  few  months.  Then  Lincoln 
and  another  young  man  bought  out  the  village  store. 
Many  stories  are  told  of  Lincoln  as  a  storekeeper. 
One  is  that  by  mistake  he  charged  a  man  sixpence  too 
much  and  that  very  night  walked  three  miles  to  the 
man's  house  to  return  the  money.  He  did  other  things 
than  tie  up  sugar  and  tea,  for  the  village  schoolmaster 
had  become  his  friend  and  was  lending  him  books,  hear- 
ing him  recite,  and  correcting  his  compositions.  Lin- 
coln's partner  was  careless,  and  Lincoln  himself  was 
perhaps  too  much  interested  in  study  to  watch  him 
closely.  The  result  was  that  the  business  failed.  Then 
Lincoln  said  to  his  creditors,  "  I  mean  to  pay  that  money, 
and  if  you  will  trust  me,  I  will  give  you  every  cent  that 
I  earn  above  what  is  enough  to  live  on."  He  owed 
eleven  hundred  dollars.    He  used  to  speak  of  it  as  the 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  259 

"  National  Debt."  Finally  he  paid  every  penny  of  it,  and 
that  was  why  his  neighbors  called  him  "  Honest  Abe." 

Keeping  store  was  bad  for  his  pocketbook,  but  some- 
thing happened  one  day  when  he  was  behind  the  counter 
that  was  very  good  for  him.  A  man  who  was  moving 
west  with  his  family  drove  up  and  said,  "  Look  here, 
this  barrel 's  in  the  way.  I  Ve  no  room  in  the  wagon 
for  it,  and  there  's  nothing  of  much  value  in  it.  I  '11  sell 
it  for  half  a  dollar.    "Will  you  buy  it?  " 

To  oblige  the  man,  Lincoln  bought  the  barrel,  rolled 
it  out  of  the  way,  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Some  time 
afterwards,  he  came  upon  it,  knocked  the  head  off,  and 
turned  it  over  to  see  what  was  in  it.  At  the  very 
bottom  were  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  famous  law 
books.  Lincoln  opened  the  volumes  and  began  to  read. 
"  The  more  I  read,  the  more  interested  I  became,"  he 
said.  He  determined  not  to  be  a  blacksmith  or  a  store- 
keeper or  anything  else  but  a  lawyer;  and  after  much 
hard  work  a  lawyer  he  became.  His  studying  did  not 
stop  then  by  any  means,  for  he  gave  a  certain  number 
of  hours  every  day  to  the  studies  that  he  would  have 
taken  up  had  he  been  in  college.  He  worked  hard  on 
his  cases,  too.  He  went  over  the  case  in  his  own  mind, 
thinking  over  all  the  reasons  for  believing  that  his  client 
was  in  the  right.  Then  he  tried  to  think  of  everything 
that  the  opposing  lawyer  could  say  to  show  the  man  in 
the  wrong  and  of  what  he  himself  could  say  in  reply. 


260  AMERICAN  HERO   STORIES 

In  one  famous  case  of  which  he  had  charge,  he  defended 
an  old  neighbor  who  was  accused  of  murder.  One  wit- 
ness after  another  said,  "  I  saw  him  commit  the  murder." 

"  What  time  was  it?  "  Lincoln  asked  quietly. 

"  About  eleven,"  they  answered. 

"  How  could  you  see  so  clearly  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night?  "  he  demanded. 

"  The  moon  was  shining,"  they  said. 

"  Just  where  was  the  moon  and  how  large  was  it?  " 
he  asked.  They  told  him  its  size  and  in  what  part  of  the 
sky  it  was. 

Then  Lincoln  pulled  an  almanac  out  of  his  pocket  and 
said  to  the  court,  "  This  is  all  the  defense  I  have.  This 
almanac  declares  that  there  was  no  moon  on  the  night 
of  the  murder."  The  witnesses  had  made  up  their  story 
together,  but  had  forgotten  to  see  whether  it  agreed 
with  the  moon.  The  man  was  declared  to  be  inno- 
cent. 

Lincoln  had  been  made  a  member  of  the  state  legisla- 
ture and  had  been  a  congressman.  In  1860  a  meeting 
was  held  to  nominate  a  Republican  candidate  for  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  Lincoln  was 
chosen.  Of  course  there  were  all  sorts  of  emblems  and 
decorations  used  in  the  campaign,  but  the  one  that  peo- 
ple looked  at  most  was  two  weather-beaten  fence  rails 
trimmed  with  flowers  and  streamers  and  lighted  tapers. 
Over  them  was  a  banner  which  said  they  were  two  of 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  261 

the  rails  cut  by  Abraham  Lincoln  thirty  years  before. 
When  he  was  asked  about  them,  he  replied,  "  I  don't 
know  whether  we  made  those  rails  or  not;  fact  is,  I 


Copyright,  1891,  by  M.  P.  Rice 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


don't  think  they  are  a  credit  to  the  maker;  but  I  know 
this,  — I  made  rails  then,  and  I  think  I  could  make  better 
ones  than  these  now." 


262  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

Lincoln  became  President,  but  there  must  have  been 
many  days  during  the  five  years  following  when  he 
wished  he  had  no  harder  work  than  splitting  rails,  for 
the  Civil  War  broke  out.  The  President  is  command- 
er-in-chief of  the  army;  and  Lincoln  set  to  work  to 
study  how  to  cany  on  war.  He  used  every  spare  minute 
to  read  about  the  subject.  Then  he  called  the  military 
committees  of  Congress  together  and  laid  before  them 
the  plan  that  he  had  made.  They  did  not  follow  it,  but 
to-day  people  who  are  wise  in  warfare  say  that  if  it  had 
been  followed  the  war  would  have  ended  much  sooner. 
One  of  his  generals  was  so  insolent  that  the  members 
of  the  Cabinet  were  angry  and  indignant;  but  even  then 
Lincoln  did  not  lose  his  patience.  "  Never  mind,"  he 
said,  "  I  will  hold  his  horse  for  him  if  he  will  only  bring 
us  success." 

Every  clay  crowds  of  people  came  to  see  the  President, 
and  almost  every  one  wanted  some  favor.  One  wanted 
to  be  postmaster  somewhere,  another  wanted  promotion 
in  the  army,  and  many  came  to  plead  that  he  would  par- 
don some  soldier  who  was  condemned  to  die  for  desert- 
ing or  sleeping  at  his  post.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
weary  President  said  to  his  secretary,  "  I  wish  George 
Washington  or  some  other  old  patriot  were  here  to  take 
my  place  for  a  while,  so  that  I  could  have  a  little  rest." 
Tired  as  he  was,  he  would  not  send  people  away.  Even 
when  a  man  persisted  in  reading  him  a  long,  wearisome 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  263 

paper,  he  did  not  refuse  to  listen.  "  What  do  you  think 
of  it  ?  "  the  author  demanded.  "  Well,  for  those  who  like 
that  sort  of  thing,"  replied  the  tired  man,  "  I  should 
think  it  is  just  about  the  sort  of  thing  they  would 
like." 

It  was  almost  impossible  for  him  to  refuse  to  pardon 
a  soldier.  Perhaps  he  remembered  that  his  mother  had 
said  to  him  when  he  was  a  little  boy,  "  Everybody  ought 
to  be  good  to  the  soldiers."  The  generals  objected. 
They  begged  him  not  to  interfere,  but  still  the  Presi- 
dent could  not  help  writing  pardons.  "  It  rests  me  after 
a  hard  day's  work,"  he  said,  "  if  I  can  find  some  good 
cause  for  saying  a  man's  life;  and  I  go  to  bed  happy  as 
I  think  how  joyous  the  signing  of  my  name  will  make 
him  and  his  family  and  his  friends." 

One  day  an  old  man  came  to  plead  for  the  life  of  his 
son,  a  soldier  who  had  been  sentenced  to  death.  "  I  am 
sorry  I  can  do  nothing  for  you,"  said  the  President,  "  but 
the  crime  is  unpardonable.  Hear  what  General  Butler 
telegraphed  me  yesterday."  And  he  read,  "  President 
Lincoln,  I  pray  you  not  to  interfere  with  the  courts- 
martial  of  the  army.  You  will  destroy  all  discipline 
among  our  soldiers."  Then  the  old  man  was  hopeless, 
and  he  broke  down  completely.  Lincoln  could  not  bear 
to  see  his  sorrow.  Suddenly  he  burst  out,  "  Butler  or 
no  Butler,  here  goes !  "  and  he  wrote  that  the  boy  was 
not  to  be  shot  without  further  orders  from  the  Presi- 


264  AMERICAN   HERO   STORIES 

dent.  "  There,"  he  said,  "  if  your  son  never  dies  till 
orders  come  from  me  to  shoot  him,  he  will  live  to  be  a 
great  deal  older  than  Methuselah." 

At  last  the  war  came  to  an  end,  but  only  a  few  days 
after  its  close  the  President  was  assassinated.  The 
poet,  Walt  Whitman,  expressed  his  own  grief  and 
that  of  millions  of  others  in  his  poem,  "  My  Captain." 
In  this  the  "  Captain"  is  President  Lincoln,  the  "  ship" 
is  the  Union,  and  the  "  voyage  "  is  the  cruel  war  that  had 
just  come  to  an  end. 

"  The  ship  is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done, 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won ; 
Exult  O  shores,  and  ring  O  bells ! 
But  I  with  mournful  tread, 

Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead." 

OUTLINE 

Lincoln's  early  home  —  his  father's  plans  for  him  — his  mother's 
teachings  — his  stepmother's  aid  —  what  he  read  —  how  h,e  studied 
in  the  field  —  his  plans  for  the  future  —  he  splits  rails  —  visits 
New  Orleans  —  works  in  a  store  —  becomes  a  soldier  —  how  he 
managed  a  drill  —  his  life  as  a  storekeeper  —  the  "  National  Debt " 
—  how  he  decided  to  become  a  lawyer  —  his  studying  —  how  he 
prepared  his  cases  —  defending  a  neighbor  —  the  exhibition  of  the 
fence-rails  —  Lincoln  becomes  President  —  how  he  made  plans  to 
carry  on  the  war  —  his  patience  with  an  insolent  general  —  his  tire- 
some visitors  —  his  pardons  for  soldiers —  the  assassination  of  the 
President  —  Walt  Whitman's  poem. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  265 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  WRITTEN  WORK 

The  boy  Abraham  Lincoln  gives  his  fish  to  the  soldier. 
The  fence-rails  tell  the  story  of  their  lives. 
The  old  man  whose  son  Lincoln  pardoned  tells  his  wife  about 
the  President. 


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